


Collared

by magic1034



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - BDSM, Dom/sub, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Healing, Keith Tkachuk A+ Parenting, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:40:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 40,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27599024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magic1034/pseuds/magic1034
Summary: "What?" Matthew stared blankly at the coach in front of him who shifted in front of him in discomfort."You need to be collared,” Coach Huska reiterates.Matthew sighed, "I can't just get Gio to collar me and that be that right?"To the Coach's credit, he looked sorry as he replied, "Sorry, Matthew. But it cannot be a teammate unless you are looking to get traded."Matthew winced, "Yeah, I'm not getting traded. I'll figure something out. Has to be before my birthday, right?""Yeah. Good luck."
Relationships: Connor McDavid/Matthew Tkachuk, Jacob Markstrom/Elias Pettersson, Johnny Gaudreau/Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Leon Draisaitl/Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl/Connor McDavid/Matthew Tkachuk, Leon Draisaitl/Matthew Tkachuk, Mitch Marner/Auston Matthews, Patrick Kane/Jonathan Toews, Quinn Hughes/Brady Tkachuk
Comments: 206
Kudos: 305





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know where this came from. I just started writing. Also I wrote this thinking Markstrom was like 25 years old, but then I read his wiki and it said he was 30. Oops. 
> 
> I hope this is good. I'm pretty happy with it.
> 
> Main pairing is Matthew/Connor/Leon though. This might turn into a series, branching off into the dramas of the different couples in this fic. I have pretty solid and fleshed out ideas running around in my head.
> 
> The tags are incomplete I guess? I will add more as I add more chapters.

"What?" Matthew stared blankly at the coach in front of him who shifted in front of him in discomfort.

"You need to be collared,” Coach Huska reiterates.

And, okay. It wasn't like he didn't know about that rule. Subs had to be collared if they wanted to keep playing for the NHL. There was always a fear that if a Dom ordered him to go kill himself in fit of on-ice rage that he might actually take the blade off his skate and slit his throat or something. And like. Matthew could totally see an asshole like Doughty do that. But that didn't mean he had to like it. He also thought he had more time, but clearly not.

Matthew sighed, "I can't just get Gio to collar me and that be that right?"

To the Coach's credit, he looked sorry as he replied, "Sorry, Matthew. But it cannot be a teammate unless you are looking to get traded."

Matthew winced, "Yeah, I'm not getting traded. I'll figure something out. Has to be before my birthday, right?"

"Yeah. Good luck."

* * *

So the thing is, Matthew does try to do something about it. Except. Nothing works out.

Matthew begs off team bar nights and goes to another bar in hopes to find a dom that works with him.

He spends two weeks working with female Doms, and as hot as they were, they never really manage to make Matthew drop. Not even the most hardcore of female Doms can get him to drop. It’s not a complete loss, since the sex was great, but that doesn’t really solve Matthew’s problems.

Then Matthew actually takes the time and thinks about when he last dropped for somebody and then he feels like slapping himself at his stupidity. He’s always considered himself straight, but like, he’s only ever dropped for men before. Except, Matthew is pretty sure that Auston wants to collar Mitch and is dealing with his own little drama about that whole rule about not being able to collar a teammate, and well. Maybe Auston would agree to collar Matthew as a favour and as an alibi, for Mitch. Except Auston’s in Toronto, and Matthew’s in Calgary. If Matthew is going to get himself collared, he sort of wants to be able to see his Dom for more than a handful of times a year.

Armed with his new revelation, Matthew spends the next several weeks trying to find a male Dom as the team hops from city to city for their road trips.

It’s a disaster. And by the end of it, Matthew is _exhausted._ He’s not chirping on the ice as much and his team’s been giving him funny looks. Hell, even the fuckers on the opposition teams have been giving him funny looks, what the fuck. But he gets his job done, they don't lose enough points that they have to start worrying too much about their playoff spot, but he's not producing as much as he knows he can - as he _needs_ to.

On the bright side, Matthew was right. He definitely only dropped for male Doms. But that’s about the only thing that went right.

Either the Doms managed to get him partially dropped, which was never fun because they were usually the Doms who weren't able to snap him out of it so he had to stumble back to the hotel feeling unsettled as shit and absolutely _drained_. Or the Doms were just so boring that Matthew had actually dozed off in the middle of a scene. He had always felt terrible for the Doms who always tried to tell Matthew that it was okay, but Matthew could see the hurt pride in their faces.

Then there were the worst ones that didn't take it too well when Matthew would directly disobey to test the Dom and would either get kicked out of the Dom's home or get hit harder than Matthew was comfortable with and that would always snap him out of a drop without fail. Then he would storm out. Neither conclusions were healthy for any Sub. It led to sleepless and exhausting nights. And it had been a pain, trying to hide his extra bruises from his teammates when they all shared a locker room, but he managed, even though he was fairly certain that Gio and Monny had seen that ugly bruise on his back.

So it wasn't a _total_ surprise when a couple of days after they got back home in Calgary from their bout of roadies, his doorbell rings and the small inquisition made up of Gio, Johnny, Monny, Noah, and surprisingly, Marky showed up on Matthew's doorstep.

Matthew sighed and opened the door to wave them in, raising an eyebrow at the former Canuck who shrugged, "I noticed you were off. Gio thinks it's a good chance for some team-bonding between us."

"Team-bonding," Matthew parroted, dryly. Sure, Matthew wasn't exactly buddy-buddy with the group of players their management had nabbed from the Canucks - because apparently, their scouting team only had tunnel vision when it came to scouting players from other NHL teams - but Matthew enjoyed Markstrom's quick wit and calming nature. If they weren't on the same team, Matthew thinks that he wouldn't have minded giving the Swedish Dom a chance.

Marky eyed Matthew carefully as they slowly made their way into the living room where the other boys had gathered themselves.

Stopping right before they turned into the room, Marky carefully lifted his hand and placed it on the back of Matthew's neck and _squeezed_ . And, maybe, Matthew wasn't as okay as he thought, because he practically _melted_ into the hold. It wasn't that Marky's hold on his neck wasn't supposed to trigger a reaction, but Matthew remembers his half-forgotten lessons from high school. Normally, a healthy Sub would feel mildly more relaxed and content under a compatible Dom's hold, but Matthew had pretty much gone limp in Marky's hold and practically started to purr. 

“You didn’t come with us to bars after games anymore because you were looking for a Dom, yes?” Marky asked softly, reining Matthew into a grounding hug.

“I have to,” Matthew whispered, struggling around the words as he struggled to think through the haze in his mind that made him just want to roll over and _submit_. “Wanna play hockey.”

“I could collar you,” Marky offered as he reached his free hand up to cradle Matthew’s cheek, “You’ve been good.” 

And that was the whole issue, wasn’t it? Matthew _couldn’t_ find somebody on his team. He loves his team.

“Wanna be Flames. No leave.” was what came out of Matthew’s mouth, and then there was a thoughtful pause, “Pretty boy in Vancouver.”

Marky snorted in laughter, “Petey?”

Matthew nodded sagely, vaguely remembering a drunken conversation he had with Pettersson at a bar in the last All-Stars. “Wants collar. Is why you here.”

Matthew doesn’t have to look up to know that Marky is smiling softly into the wall across from them, “Petey is angry with me right now. I don’t know if he will have me back, which is why I offered.”

“Idiot. Talk to pretty boy.” Matthew sniffed, pulling away to give Marky a glare and his face must have done something because Marky was chortling.

“Look, Matthew,” Marky’s face suddenly became serious, “No matter what is going on between me and Petey. If you need me to help you out after a bad Dom session, come find me. Okay? I know you have my number.”

Matthew gave a brittle smile, “Okay”.

Marky looked Matthew over, and he must have seen what he was looking for because he nodded, “Let’s go meet the rest of the boys before they think I did something to you.”

Matthew giggled as Marky wrapped an arm around him as they made their way into the quiet living room, the four men in the room giving them a judgemental stare.

“When I said that this might be a good opportunity to get closer with the team, Markstrom, I didn’t mean ‘Go collar Tkachuk’,” Gio shot Marky an annoyed yet amused look, making it obvious that at least some of their conversation in the hall was heard.

“I told you I was right about Matty looking for a Dom,” Marky shrugged as he sunk into the couch, allowing Matthew to snuggle up against him.

“I just didn’t think it would take that long,” Monny muttered only to let out a yelp when Johnny threw a throw pillow at Monny’s face, a panicked look in his eyes and Noah let out a sharp hiss _‘Sean’_.

“It’s okay,” Matthew shrugged, looking far away, “Maybe, it’s me that’s the problem. Maybe, I’m not a good Sub.”

Monny paled, “Oh my God, Matty. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant that you’re amazing and I was surprised that none of the Doms you tried saw it.”

Except, Matthew wasn’t listening anymore, his eyes were glazed over as memories, unbidden, came rushing through the forefront of his mind and well, maybe he could have been too selfish? Maybe he had his expectations too high and was looking for a perfect Dom when he really just needed somebody decent enough to allow him to play hockey. Anything else was just cannon-fodder really. At least that was what Matthew was telling himself.

He hadn’t realized that Marky’s face had turned stonily cold when the calm netminder realized how deeply affected Matthew was after hearing those words, nor had he realized that Gio had gotten up to herd everyone else away with little protest until Marky’s grounding hand settled on the back of Matthew’s neck again.

“Matty,” Marky whispered softly, “Matty, look at me.”

And it was that moment that Matthew realized that he was crying, the tears slowly rolling down his cheeks.

But he obeyed the Dom next to him and turned his head so that he was looking into Marky’s cool and collected bright blue eyes that softened when Matthew met his eyes.

“Oh sweetheart. Sweet boy. Don’t cry,” Marky soothed.

Naturally, because apparently Matthew couldn’t be good for a Dom enough to even manage that simple order, Matthew sobbed louder, fueled by thoughts of him being broken and being a failure. An echo of a lecture that his father had once given him a long time ago that he had tried to forget.

And Marky, bless his soul, he let Matthew sob it out on his shoulder as he whispered sweet nothings into Matthew’s ear. Telling him how perfect he was and how good he was doing.

It takes a while for Matthew to quiet down and they sit there for a while when he does, with Matthew sitting on Marky’s lap and his face shoved into the fabric of Marky’s hoodie.

“Tell me what’s going through that pretty head of yours,” Marky breaks the silence with a murmur.

Matthew wants to clam up. He doesn’t want to talk about any of the shit going on in his brain. But his mouth doesn’t get with the program and he tells Marky _everything_ . From the day that coach came up to him to talk about his lack of a Dom situation, to all the Doms he had been with since. About how horrible some of them were and how drained he felt after each failed attempt. He tells Marky about the worries and asks if he’s a bad Sub and if he should just find one he tolerates and to learn to just live with it, to which Marky is quick to set Matthew straight. _Don’t settle. This is your Dom. Your life. Not your Dad’s. Not the NHL’s. You find one you like. Not one you tolerate. Don’t lower your bar for anyone. You deserve the best. You’re a brat, sure. But I like that. You make things fun. Like Petey. You will find a Dom who understands._

But, of course, Matthew is still Matthew, even when he’s dropped. So, since he’s been unable to shut his mouth, he latches on to how Marky mentions _Petey,_ and relays to Marky exactly how lovesick Pettersson was, _is_ , for Marky. And Marky looks endlessly amused and chagrined all at once as he promises Matthew that he will be the best Dom in the whole wide world for Petey. To which Matthew responds that Marky better be or he will come after him for ruining a good thing. And Matthew has no idea where his protectiveness of the Canuck’s star forward came from, but he’s not about to question it. 

Eventually, Matthew talks himself into exhaustion and Marky can tell that Matthew’s about to pass out, so Marky orders him to get ready for bed and easily agrees when Matthew shyly asks for him to cuddle him to sleep. And just like that, even if Matthew didn’t even drop all that deeply, and all he did was bare his soul to Marky, Matthew sleeps soundly through the night for the first time in what seemed like forever.

* * *

Apparently, word spreads fast because the next day during practice, nobody is letting Monny catch a break. Matthew feels like he should feel bad for his friend, but it’s honestly a little funny watching Monny pout at both Marky and Rittich as they both don’t let any of his shots through.

Coach Sigalet, the goaltending coach for the Flames, snorts in laughter next to Matthew when he skates to the bench for grab a bottle of Gatorade, “If the boys worked liked this in every game we play, I think Markstrom and Rittich could be the number one goalies this season.”

“You’re going to break Monny’s heart if he hears that you want Marky and Rittich to keep being mad at him,” Matthew grins.

The Coach eyes Matthew for a while Matthew gulps down a couple mouthfuls of sugary blue liquid before he asks, his tone gentle, “Are you alright, kid?”

Matthew holds back a sigh, but he musters up a genuine smile for the Coach, the small session with Marky having settled something in him, “I’m fine. Haven’t felt this good in a while. Monny’s good too, I’m just letting him sweat it out for a bit.”

Coach Sigalet laughs before he shoos Matthew away to continue his drills.

* * *

Matthew takes his time showering before he heads to the locker room to change into his fresh clothes. Most of the guys are gone already and he spots Monny hanging around Matthew’s stall as he idly chats with Noah about the next few games they have and how he is looking forward to when the Sens come around the next week because he misses Brady.

Noah spots Monny as well and he shakes his head with a small laugh. He waves Matthew away, knowing that Matthew’s purposely letting Monny stew in his misery.

Matthew nods and Monny returns an unsure smile, and well, maybe Matthew starts to feel a little bit guilty, but it’s been a while since he last messed with his teammates, so he commits to the cold shoulder treatment and he lets the awkward silence linger over them as he dresses.

Monny follows at Matthew’s heels as he makes his way out of the locker room and it’s when they’re outside Matthew’s car and Monny is fidgeting nervously next to him that Matthew takes pity and finally acknowledges his teammate.

“Hey Monny, you need something?” Matthew asks.

Monny winces, “I’m sorry about yesterday. I didn’t think about what I was saying. I just couldn’t believe that anyone would be dumb enough to see how amazing you are.”

_Clearly not._ A traitorous little voice chirps in the back of his head that sounds suspiciously like his dad. But Matthew’s still feeling good from last night, so he squashes that voice with no remorse.

“Thanks,” Matthew gives Monny a smile, “It’s fine dude, really.”

The tension in Monny’s shoulders bleeds out now that Matthew had accepted his apology. At least he did right up until he notices Matthew’s smile turning a little too wide and he’s immediately suspicious.

“What-?” Monny tries to ask before Matthew starts laughing.

“I forgave you the moment I woke up this morning.”

“Wait, so why didn’t you say something? Marky and Rittich were blue-balling me the whole day and the endless chirps - _Matthew,”_ Monny whines, his expression widens into one of betrayed outrage and Matthew just loses it, throwing his head back in laughter.

* * *

The week goes by slowly. Matthew should have seen this coming, but suddenly all his teammates decide they want to be helpful and they start setting Matthew up with Doms they know, and Matthew’s too nice to turn them down despite the worried looks some of the more senior players shoot his way.

None of the Dom’s work out, and after a particularly bad one, Matthew finally calls Marky, who comes to pick him up with Tanev in tow.

But it works out in the end, Marky quickly drops Tanev off at his apartment and Marky takes Matthew back to his place where he orders Matthew to wash the dishes and do some housework. It’s relaxing and Matthew feels good about doing something helpful. That he’s being good for his Dom. He didn’t even know that these scenes could be non-sexual, but Matthew’s not complaining. Besides, Marky is Pettersson’s Dom and Matthew doesn’t want to get in the way of that. 

The next day, Matthew spots Tanev gathering all the younger players together and giving them some sort of talk before Gio distracts him with some drill that he needs to work on. But Matthew notices how some of his teammates give him apologetic looks after and there is a significant lack of people trying to set Matthew up. So he skates up to Tanev and gives him a friendly hip check.

“Thanks,” Matthew says softly.

Tanev blinks at him in surprise before his lips tip up into a smile, “No problem, kid. You know it’s okay to say no, right?”

Matthew nods, “I know, but…”

“It’s hard,” Tanev finishes, nodding his head in understanding.

“I’m working on it,” Matthew sighs.

“Good,” Tanev nods in approval, “Race you to the other side of the rink?” 

Matthew grins and takes off, Tanev on his heels with a laugh.

* * *

It’s the night before Calgary’s game with the Sens and Matty’s too excited to sleep, so he gathers his things and hops into his car for the quick drive to Marky’s place.

He rings the doorbell and Marky answers the door with a confused expression on his face but before he can grill Matthew on why he’s here, Matthew waggles his eyebrows suggestively, “Tkachuk cleaning service, where would you like to put me?”

Marky snorts, “You’re not dropping again, are you? Please tell me you didn’t drive here half out of your mind.”

Matthew shakes his head, and says with a faint blush, “Nah. But I can’t sleep. And I liked cleaning your place last time.”

Marky blinks but he doesn’t question Matthew further and waves him in before pointing to the sink full of dishes that Matthew raises a judgemental eyebrow at. “Wow, you must really hate washing the dishes.”

Marky laughs.

* * *

Matthew’s halfway through vacuuming Marky’s living room where Marky is launching on a couch watching some movie on his laptop when Marky’s iPad starts buzzing on the coffee table. Matthew doesn’t bother shutting off the vacuum cleaner as Marky pulls out his earphones to pick up the Facetime call.

The contact says Petey, and Matthew’s curious and Marky doesn’t say anything so he stays put.

“Hey Petey,” Marky says, and Matthew can’t really see Pettersson’s face from where Marky places the table on his lap, but he does hear Petey’s voice as he teases Marky.

“Is that a vacuum? Did you hire a maid? Wow, Marky. Calgary must be spoiling you.” Pettersson’s voice is bright as he teases Markstrom.

“I didn’t hire a maid,” Marky laughs softly and _oh._

There’s a soft love-drunk look on Marky’s face and it makes Matthew inexplicably happy to see. That this Dom who made it seem so easy to pull Matthew out of his own head and made him feel like he didn’t have to settle, is in love and happy with a Sub who clearly feels the same way. The feeling surprises Matthew. He thought he might be jealous, but he’s just so _happy_ that his friend has found somebody. 

Matthew shakes himself out of his reverie and shuts off the vacuum, gently placing it down on the carpet, before slowly making his way to the couch where Pettersson is excitedly regaling Marky with some story about some prank he and Hughes pulled on some of the newer rookies.

Matthew sits down next to Marky and sticks his head in between Marky and the tablet and Pettersson’s eyes widen in surprise before they brighten.

“Matty! So you’re Marky’s maid now? Did you lose a bet?” Pettersson beams.

“Only for today,” Matthew laughs. “He hates washing the dishes.”

Marky squawks indignantly behind him, but the two of them ignore him.

“He was like that in Vancouver, too. At one point he resorted to using disposable plates because he ran out of clean dishes.”

Matthew laughs, delighted, “I can totally see that.”

The laughter dies down and Pettersson’s expression suddenly turns serious as he looks at Matthew critically, and Matthew relaxes when Marky places a hand on his hip.

“So you’re the reason that Marky got his head out of his ass, huh?” Pettersson says, his voice soft. “I have to thank you."

Matthew shrugs, "Marky offered to collar me, but I remembered All-Stars and I couldn't just let my goalie go make the dumbest mistake of his life."

For a moment, Matthew wonders if he's said too much, but then Pettersson starts laughing and the two men on the couch relax.

"I like him, Marky!" Pettersson smiles brightly.

“He’s good,” Marky agrees. 

And, well. Matthew pretty much turns into goo at this point because having the approval of these two people means the world to him. Which shouldn’t make any sense because he doesn’t _know_ Pettersson, but Pettersson is Marky’s sub and that’s enough for Matthew to want his approval.

Marky absently pats Matthew's hip before he gently pulls him away and dumps his iPad onto Matthew's lap. “Washroom,” he announces cheerily, as he meanders away.

Matthew blinks, and it’s silent for a couple of beats after Marky leaves the room before Matthew shyly brings his hand up in a little awkward wave, “Hi.”

“Hey,” Pettersson responds, a smile stretching across his face, “How are you?”

Matthew bites his lips as he turns the question over in his mind. It isn’t a hard question, but at the same time, it’s not like Matthew spends a lot of time doing scenes with Doms before this year and it still feels strange. 

Like, Matthew has done some scenes back when he hooked up with Matts, and some minor things with Noah and it always felt good with them. But then they had gotten busy, and Noah had found a girlfriend, and well, Matthew hadn’t realized that he had been starting to miss something.

“I’ve been good. It’s just. Strange. I didn’t know I was missing something,” Matthew tries to explain.

Pettersson nod, a look of understanding in his eyes, “Yeah, you don’t really think about it when everything is just, hockey, hockey, and even more hockey. But then you do your first scene after a long time, and it’s like, everything coming together.”

Matthew nods, elated that he wasn’t the only one, “Was Marky the one who scened with you?”

“Yeah,” Pettersson agrees, “He’s the best Dom I’ve been with.”

Matthew hums, before a thought crosses his mind and he sits up, “Are you okay, with me and Marky…?” he waves his hand in the air.

“Yeah,” Pettersson shrugs, until he notices the uncertain look on Matthew’s face and his own eyes light up in realization, “Oh! I forgot. The culture here is so different. In Sweden, it’s normal for friends to do platonic scenes together. Especially between an older Dom and a younger Sub. It’s good for the younger Subs to figure out what works for them, and what doesn’t with an experienced Dom.”

Matthew takes a while to process that, and really, it does make a whole lot of sense. There’s been a lot of sexualization in American culture nowadays, and Matthew wishes that he had known about the whole platonic scenes thing sooner.

“So, we are okay?” Matthew asks, just to be sure.

Pettersson shrugs, “I mean, I know Marky couldn’t have collared you anyways because of the whole team thing, but Marky told me about how you made him promise to be good to me and to stop being a dumbass. I think it was sweet. So, if you need Marky to dom you from time to time, I don’t have an issue with it.”

“Alright,” Matthew says, unsure how to respond. He waits for a beat before he asks Pettersson a question he had been dying to ask since he found out that Pettersson and Marky were a thing last year. “Isn’t Marky too old for you? And you two…” Matthew trails off.

Actually, Pettersson would have been underaged since the start of whatever he has going on with Marky and his protective instincts that he usually has for his younger siblings flairs to life.

Pettersson seems to know it too, because he smiles fondly at Matthew, “Age of consent in Canada is 19, Matty, and in Sweden, it’s 15. Relax. Besides, Marky is amazing.”

And, well, Matthew can’t really argue against that without coming off like a massive hypocrite, so he lets it go.

They’re talking about the Canuck’s next home game with the Flames next week, when Marky comes wandering back into the living room. 

“That’s a long washroom break,” Matthew comments when Marky settles in beside him.

Marky shrugs, “You guys seemed really into it, so I let you guys talk.”

Matthew hummed as he passed Marky his iPad, “It’s getting late, I should head home. Thanks for having me.”

“I will walk you out,” Marky nods as he gets up.

“You should come out with us after the game next week,” Pettersson says as they walk to the front door.

“Are you sure?” Matthew frowns, “You guys don’t get to see each other often, I don’t want to take away your time together.”

“Aww, Matty, you’re adorable,” Pettersson coos and Matthew snorts.

“You won’t be calling me adorable when I kick your ass up and down the rink next week,” Matthew chirps, as he goes to pull his shoes on.

“Oh please, you couldn’t catch me if you tried,” Pettersson snipes back.

The response has Matthew whipping his head up in surprise. Pettersson was never known for running his mouth, he was the type of player who preferred to let his performance on the ice speak for itself. From what Matthew remembers, Pettersson has always ignored his chirps, so Pettersson responding in kind feels sort of like a milestone, and Matthew’s lips tug into a delighted smile.

“You wanna bet? I’d hate to ruin that pretty face of yours.” Matthew throws back.

“Not if I ruin yours first,” Pettersson counters without missing a beat and Mattthew cackles.

“I see you’ve been working on your chirps,” Matthew acknowledges after he manages to cool down.

“Learnt from the best,” Pettersson winks at him.

“I’m so proud,” Matthew says, sarcasm heavy in his voice.

The pair of them laugh before Matthew goes to bid Marky good night, who had been watching the exchange with an amused expression.

“I’ll text you later!” Pettersson calls as Matthew starts making his way down Marky’s front porch.

Matthew assumes that that means Pettersson would get Matthew’s number from Marky, so Matthew turns to salute him before he continues to walk to his car.

* * *

he next game comes quickly and it’s a chippy back and forth that ends with the Flames winning 3-2, with Matthew scoring the game winning goal in the opening seconds of the third period.

Which is why Matthew finds Brady outside his locker room with a grumpy pout on his face. It’s actually pretty adorable, but Matthew knows better than to say that to Brady’s face.

“Hey loser. Let’s get some food,” Matthew grins lightly, as he gently nudges his brother who glares daggers at him.

“You suck,” Brady scowls, but he follows Matthew out of the Saddledome and they head for the quiet diner that they usually go to when the Sens play the Flames in Calgary.

By the time, the two of them make it over there, Brady’s already over the loss and is chatting away about his team. Matthew’s insanely happy for him because the Sens are almost out of their rebuild stage and it looks like Brady’s place on their roster is already cemented. Matthew heard that their management is already planning on making Brady Captain, that is if they’re not giving it to Chabot through the legendary NHL grapevine, and Matthew might be a little biased, but he thinks Brady would do well with the responsibilities.

Brady raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t say anything when Matthew requests the kind hostess for the quiet room in the back that the diner lets them use for privacy when the diner’s crowded. Except the diner is relatively empty tonight, but Matthew doesn’t want to risk the chance of anyone eavesdropping on them tonight.

They order their usual meal plan chicken and Matthew brings out his phone to facetime Taryn who picks up with a wide grin and a “ _What’s up, losers?”_

They joke around for a while until the waitress comes out with their food. Brady’s pushing around the greens on his plate with his fork when his eyes light up with a mischievous light and Matthew rolls his eyes. He knows what Brady’s going to ask before he even opens his mouth.

“So tell me. Did you find a Dom yet?” Brady asks, leaning forward on his sheet, and Taryn giggles in the background.

Matthew shrugs as he picks up his last bite of chicken and plops it into his mouth, taking his time to chew and swallow. He even gulps down a mouthful of water before he replies to Brady who’s sitting on the edge of his seat with his eyes wide in interest. Even Taryn’s silent as she watches Matthew through the small screen.

Matthew debates for a short while whether or not he should tell the truth, but he throws the idea out of his head the second he remembers that Taryn will know he’s lying the second he does. Everybody knows that Taryn’s the smartest Tkachuk, no matter how much Matthew and Brady likes to pretend otherwise.

“No,” Matthew admits, fidgeting with the string of his hoodie. He knows he shouldn’t, but he feels like he’s disappointed his younger siblings somehow, that he can’t get his shit together enough to find a Dom. “None of the Doms I tried were good.”

He doesn’t know what face he’s wearing right now, but whatever it is makes both Brady and Taryn alarmed with worry.

“Matty, did anyone hurt you?” Taryn asks in worry.

“Do you need me to beat up somebody?” Brady asks immediately after.

Brady looks so serious, and the concept of his baby brother offering to defend his honour when it really should be Matthew’s job to protect his younger siblings makes him want to cry and laugh at the same time, so he does.

“I love you guys,” Matthew wipes his eyes after he gets over his laughter and Brady’s currently looking at him as if he’s grown another head which has Matthew trying to hold in another snort of laughter. “But it’s fine. No kicking anyone’s ass. Besides, I’ve been doing good now.”

“Yeah?” Brady asks, unconvinced.

Matthew hesitates for a bit before he forges ahead, “Marky has been helping me out.”

“Markstrom?” Brady raises a judgemental eyebrow, “Doesn’t he already have that thing with Pettersson?” Because apparently the NHL grapevine is vast and doesn’t fail to stick its nose into every little thing. Matthew wonders in the back of his mind if the entire NHL knows he’s been actively looking for a Dom for a while now.

“Not like that!” Matthew’s quick to answer. Matthew’s a lot of things, but he never wants to be the person to break up a couple like he sees people do in the media.

And, so, Matthew spends the next while explaining to his little brother and sister about his and Marky’s arrangement and how much the scenes that Marky does with Matthew help settle him in a way he never thought it was possible to do without the sex component. He even tells them about his blooming friendship with Pettersson, who had been texting him memes and were currently in the midst of trading dumb rookie anecdotes. Sweden has some weird traditions.

By the time Matthew’s finished talking, Brady has a thoughtful look on his face and Taryn just looks happy, like she’s happy for Matthew that he’s found this for himself, or at least that’s what Matthew’s guessing anyways. 

“I think I’ve read an article about platonic scening,” Taryn says before her light tone gets an edge in the way it does when she’s about to work herself up into a rant, “I just don’t understand why nobody teaches us this stuff. School teaches us the basic shit and gloss through the concept of safe sex, but they only ever refer to scenes in reference to sex. It would have been really fucking helpful to know this stuff."

Matthew frowns, taking his time to think before he answers, "I think it's because scenes between Doms and Subs are considered private, so it's taboo to talk about it. So schools think that the parents teach their kids these things, and the parents think the school does because of the whole health curriculum - which is utter bullshit - so in the end, nobody talks about it."

"Ugh," Taryn scrunched up her nose, "That's dumb."

"Hey, we can't all be geniuses like you, T," Matthew laughs quietly at Taryn's put upon face.

Turning his attention to Brady, Matthew kicks at his brother’s shin lightly, “You good, bro?”

Brady nods absent-mindedly, “I’m good. It’s just. There’s this rookie that just joined us this season. He’s really skittish. Like, he gets this look of fear whenever a Dom goes near him and all the rookie Subs are really protective of him. It doesn’t affect his play on ice, but I think… I think something happened to him, or he was abused.” Brady looks uncertain. “And he has symptoms of going too long without a scene. I think, maybe, that platonic scening might help. I don’t know how I can get him to trust me enough though.”

Matthew feels a rush of pride through his chest at Brady’s words. Brady’s going to be such a great captain, it makes Matthew want to cry with joy, but he doesn’t, because it’s neither the time or place for it. “I think it’s a good idea,” Matthew says sincerely. “Aren’t some of the Sens’ netminders Swedish? They might be able to help as well.”

“Maybe talk to some of the Sub’s friends. Maybe let some of them be there when you try. It might make the Sub feel safer,” Taryn suggests.

Matthew nods in agreement, “It’s worth a try. Just make sure your rookie knows that he can say no. It might be better to get one of your Swedish goalies to approach him. If you get that C or A on your chest, he will feel pressured regardless of what you say.”

Brady nods and the three of them spend the rest of the night talking about Taryn’s next field hockey game and the newest in her locker room drama, well, Matthew and Taryn do. It doesn’t take a psychic to know that Brady’s head is somewhere else.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the nice reviews! It means a lot to me <3

Matthew’s next game is a home game against the Leafs, the next team making their rounds from the Atlantic Division and Matthew definitely knows that almost every NHL’er knows that Matthew’s in need of getting collared because Nylander skates up to him with an overly suggestive eyebrow and says “Looking for a good time?” 

Although, it could also be because the Leafs are basically a gossip hub. Matthew would bet his salary that it was either Brodie or Marns who opened their big mouths. And anything that Marns knows, Matthew is pretty sure everybody knows, which means the Battle of Alberta game happening next week is going to be fun.

Matthew scowls at the smug asshole beside him, “Sure. I’m looking forward to kicking your ass.”

Nylander laughs but there is a spark of challenge in his eyes that makes Matthew wary. Matthew’s wariness is justified when the Leafs end up leading 3 to 1, two of those goals being from Nylander, and Matthew swears as he heads to the bench in the second half of the third period.

The next time Matthew is on the ice, he runs his mouth at everybody in a white sweater, even Matts who rolls his eyes and gives him a playful tap with his stick before taking off for the puck.

Except, Matts tapped him behind Andersen’s net and the ref has a bad angle and thinks that it was a cross check so the play’s blown dead and Matts’ is sent spluttering into the box. Matthew can agree that that was some bs reffing, but he isn’t about to complain.

Especially not when Matthew scores twenty seconds into the power play and then ties up the game a minute later when he makes a glorious pass to Johnny who buries the puck through Andersen’s five-hole. 

The game ends in a shootout with a W for the Flames when Monny dekes one past Andersen.

Matthew cheers as he rockets out of the bench to join the red sweaters dogpiling on Monny. He catches the eye of Nylander and imitates the smug expression that the Leaf had given him earlier and Nylander scowls at him.

* * *

Matthew and Noah are laughing as they shove at each other as they make their way out of the locker rooms after they’re done with the media and their showers. But Noah freezes once the locker room closes behind them and Matthew follows Noah’s gaze to see Brodie and Matts leaning against the wall. Brodie looks excited and he’s quick to latch onto Noah but Matts is scowling at Matthew.

Matthew rolls his eyes, “Not my fault the ref made a bad call, asshole. Lose the sour face or scram.”

Matts scowls at Matthew for a couple of seconds longer before he loosens up a bit. Or maybe that’s just self-preservation because the locker room door opens and Johnny and Monny are looking at Matts like they’re about ready to get into a brawl if Matts makes a move.

“You’re an asshole,” Matts sighs before he walks over to punch Matthew on the arm, “Let’s get dinner, you’re paying.”

Matthew raises an eyebrow, “I thought the deal was loser pays.”

“I deserve to get treated after that game,” Matts sniffs as they make their way to the private parking garage that was reserved for the players and employees.

Matthew lets his trailing teammates know that he’s skipping out on their celebratory bar night and rolls his eyes when Noah simply tells him he’s being replaced by Brodie who is still hanging onto Noah like a limpet.

“Where’s Marns?” Matthew asks as he climbs into the driver seat of his car.

Matts shrugs, “He’s tired. He said he was going to go back to the hotel and sleep.”

“Uh huh,” Matthew says with a tone that definitely says that he doesn’t believe a word out of Matts’ mouth. Because Marns never misses out on a chance to gossip, and it seems unlikely that he would send Matts in his steed since Matts isn’t as invested in knowing everything about everyone. That and Matthew hasn’t seen Marns in a while and they usually don’t pass up the chance to hang out when they can.

It’s silent on the car ride as Matthew drives to that new Mexican place that Matts pointed out when they had made plans over text earlier. Matts insist they order to go, so Matthew heads inside to order a burrito that looks to roughly fit both their meal plans - Matthew opting for a fish burrito because he was getting kind of sick of all the chicken he’s been eating the past week.

Matthew tosses the takeout bag to Matts who had been looking awfully sad and pathetic since he had gotten into Matthew’s car. Matthew’s worried about his longtime friend, but he also feels like he knows what this is about considering Marns isn’t with them tonight.

“Did you and Marns get into a fight?” Matthew asks. “You’ve been avoiding Marns on the ice today and you were practically invisible. Thornton, Nylander, and Spezza basically carried you guys tonight.”

Matts shrugged dejectedly, “Marns isn’t talking to me.”

Matthew raised an eyebrow. Marns cold shoulder treatment was pretty legendary throughout the NHL. There was a time when Stromer had accidentally offended Marns and Marns pretended he didn’t exist for a whole year before Davo and Eichel, back when the two still talked, had locked Marns and Stromer in a closet with the strict order of “Stop being a dumbass and let Stromer apologize” at a party.

“Shit man. What did you do?” Matthew asked.

Matts shrugged and stared out of the window until Matthew pulled up in his driveway. The two of them made their way into Matthew’s kitchen area and Matthew tossed Matts the chicken burrito he got him, and a water bottle from his fridge, before he started to unwrap his own.

It was good, and Matthew must have been more hungry than he realized because the next thing he knew he had eaten half of his burrito before Matts started to talk.

“Marns is mad at me because I offered to tell management that I wanted to get traded,” Matts admits, staring at his own unwrapped and uneaten burrito like it holds the answer to the universe.

“Why would Marns be mad about that?” Matthew blinks, everybody, including the Leafs’ own management knows that Matts wants to collar Marns. Matthew wouldn’t even be surprised if the Leafs GM was already fielding calls from other teams for Matts or Marns.

“Because I was serious about my offer, but he wants us to stay together. Off-season isn’t enough for him. He says he would rather take himself out of the game entirely so that we could still be together in Toronto. I’m obviously not going to let him do that. Being a professional hockey player is his dream. I can’t let him give that up. So we got into a fight,” Matts explains before he picks up his burrito to take an angry bite.

“Shit man,” Matthew winces at Matts’ situation. It sounds a lot more complicated than Matthew’s own problems with finding a Dom, “Sounds like Marns is more angry at the lack of solution than he is at you, though.”

“That’s actually why I’m here,” Matts says, sitting back on the bar stool he’s sitting on.

Matthew snorts, “You would have been here regardless.”

“Well, true,” Matts concedes, “But like, you’re looking for a Dom too right?”

Matthew blinks at Matts, and wow, Matthew didn’t think that Matts would really offer back when he had considered being Matts’ beard all those weeks ago. And, the thing was, Matthew wasn’t completely adversed to the idea.

“Matty?” Matts looked up, frowning, “Did I say something wrong?”

“No,” Matthew shook his head, “You want to collar me, right? To cover for Marns. Does Marns know?”

Matts looked surprised, “Mitchy doesn’t know, I wanted to make sure that you were on board before I brought it up with him. How did you know I was going to ask you that?”

Matthew rolls his eyes as he takes the last bite of his burrito, “I’m not stupid, you know? Besides, I thought about asking you that before, in the beginning. Also, you should have asked him. He’s going to think you’re thinking about giving up on him if you’re out there trying to find another sub.”

Matts winced at Matthew’s words, “Yeah, it does look that way, huh? I’ll try to talk to him,” Matts agrees before his expression turns into one of curiosity, “Why didn’t you come to me then?”

Matthew frowns as he leans against his countertop. He’s thought about this before and had concluded that he had wanted a Dom that he could see more often than he would with Matts, even if Matts wouldn’t Dom him too much, but he also hadn’t really thought that Matts would have really offered either. But Matthew’s thinking about the platonic scenes he’s been doing with Marky, and if that was already some of Matthew’s greatest experiences, Matthew can’t help but imagine what it would be like to scene with a Dom that is solely his and it’s with this thought that Matthew makes up his mind.

“I’m sorry, Matts,” Matthew smiles sadly, “We don’t see each other much as it is. And our fans will notice when we don’t spend our off-seasons together. And, well. I want to be collared by a Dom who will, you know, actually Dom me.”

Matts smiles in understanding, “It’s okay, Matty. I should have known. It was selfish of me to ask you about this anyways.”

Matthew smiles back and they spend the rest of the night gossiping about their teams and their friends before Matthew has to drive Matts back to his hotel.

* * *

The rest of the week passes by quickly, and they soundly beat the Habs and get their asses kicked by Tampa. Johnny even drags Matthew out to rent out a room for karaoke because “We haven’t hung out outside of team shit for way too long. Let’s have fun!”.

So, Matthew’s feeling good about the upcoming Battle of Alberta game in Edmonton, so naturally, everything goes to shit in the middle of the first period. 

Matthew has the puck and he makes a break for it, except he knows there is a sea of orange sweaters right at his tail, so he speeds up, except his skate doesn’t catch the ice quite right and he’s suddenly crashing the crease and into the boards. Suddenly there is a weight on top of him and Matthew tries to fight back because he just  _ knows _ it’s an asshole dressed in orange.

“Stay down, Tkachuk,” a voice growls in his ear and Matthew barely has time to think  _ Draisaitl _ when he basically melts back into the ice and the weight on him is suddenly gone. Which Matthew can only assume means that one of his teammates dragged the asshole off of him. Except, now, Matthew can’t fucking  _ move _ and he’s  _ terrified  _ at the lack of control over his own body. Matthew has never been affected by any Dom on the ice, so why now? Was it because Draisaitl used his fucking Dom voice right into his ear? That still doesn’t make sense, and Matthew’s isn’t exactly thinking clearly right now.

Slowly, Matthew manages to move his head so that he’s looking down the ice and gets an eyeful of skates and legs around him, which doesn’t really tell him shit, so he tries to make his head move a bit more and suddenly he can see the faces of his worried teammates and the two refs talking beside them. He also sees that Gio’s got Draisaitl in a stranglehold and nobody seems interested in helping the Oiler out. In fact, most of the Oilers look confused, and some of them even look a little horrified and resigned. Players using their Dom voices against Subs on the opposite teams were usually accidental, but accidental or not, it always meant that the players of the opposite team of the Dom that affected a Sub on their team will go after him.

Suddenly there are a pair of skates in front of him and he looks up to see McDavid in front of him, a concerned look over his face. Matthew can also see Johnny hovering behind him to make sure the Oiler Captain doesn’t do anything stupid.

McDavid kneels, surprising Matthew and suddenly there is a pressure on the back of his neck, “You can get up now.”

Matthew gets up shakily and he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He’s pretty sure he’s swaying. 

Opening them again, he gives McDavid a glare that doesn’t faze the Oiler Captain and he skates away, snarling as he passes Draisaitl who’s limp in Gio’s arms. Matthew feels humiliated having been put in that position in front of the fans. The fans in the Rogers Place are uncharacteristically silent and Matthew wants to scream. He would rather have had the fans boo him for crashing Smith’s crease than this overwhelming silence.

He grabs a gatorade bottle - it probably wasn’t even his - the moment he reaches the bench and dumps the contents over his head before he hops over the boards and gets collected by the waiting trainer. The next thing Matthew knows is that he’s being escorted down the tunnel.

“What happened?” Matthew asks shakily after he swallows down a couple of mouthfuls of water from the bottle he's been passed. He feels like he has just been snapped out of a drop again, and really, Matthew feels that that was exactly what had happened. He always feels like shit when that happens. He’s not sure if he can go on ice after this. 

“You responded to a player using their Dom voice on you,” the trainer tells him as she looks over some notes on her clipboard. Matthew thinks her name is Alex.

“But, I have never done that before,” Matthew protests weakly.

The woman nods, “That is correct. Which means you are not sensitive to Dom voices like some Subs are. This means that you and Draisaitl are extremely compatible and since you are at your age, this is your body telling you what it wants.”

Matthew stares blankly at the woman in front of him, vaguely feeling as if he’s been transported to an alternate dimension. “Draisaitl hates me.”

The woman meets Matthew’s blank stare with her own blank stare, “There has been studies done on this. 80% of Doms and Subs who felt this compatibility ended up together. 98% of those couples get collared.”

It takes a moment for Matthew to make sense of those stats. “What if I’m the 20%?” Matthew says quietly.

Alex’s face softens, “I’m sure the situation is not as dire as you think it is. If I were you, I would at least have a conversation about this with Draisaitl.”

Matthew smiles weakly at Alex, “You are far more reasonable than anyone has a right to be.”

Alex laughs lightly as she tucks her clipboard under her arm, “Rest here for a while. You’re out for the rest of the period. I think you should be fine for the second period, but I would like to check you over before you go.”

“Alright,” Matthew nods. He waits for Alex to exit the locker room before he pulls his phone from his bag. 

The moment he turns it on, his phone starts buzzing with notifications. All of them are worried texts from various friends and family. He ignores them all except for Marns. He clicks on Marns’ text icon.

_ Yo. I saw what happened. Are you okay??? What did Drat do to uuu??? do i need to kick his ass? _

Matthew snorts but he types back.

‘trainer says Draisaitl extmly compatible. reacted to dom voice. Its stupid’

_????? Drat’s dating Davo tho.  _

Matthew freezes and reads that line again and again until his eyes blurs and he realizes he’s crying. He swears and dips his head backwards with thunk against the wooden panel behind me. He turns off his phone when it begins to buzz excessively. Mitch must have decided to call him.

Draisaitl is dating Davo. Because of course he is. It’s not like Matthew hasn’t heard stories about people being extremely compatible. Except those were rare and Matthew had thought that they were just fairytales. He knows that in some places, those couples were considered soulmates.

His soulmate is dating McJesus. Why would he want Matthew if he has their generation's best hockey player in the world? It feels like the universe is playing a sick joke on him.

He sits there with his head against the wooden panel for a long time. He sits there as he hears footsteps coming towards the locker room, letting Matthew know that the first period is over. He still doesn’t open his eyes when his teammates fill the room, chattering away softly. And Matthew doesn’t need to open his eyes to know that his teammates are staring at him and that they’re worried. But Matthew doesn’t want to lie to them and he doesn’t want to tell them that he isn’t okay. They have a game to be focusing on, they shouldn’t be distracted by Matthew’s drama.

Suddenly he feels a hand on his shoulder, and he knows who it is without opening his eyes. He doesn’t open them. He just gives a little nod in acknowledgement.

“You okay? Do you need me?” Marky asks softly.

Matthew shakes his head, and after a beat, Marky’s hand leaves Matthew’s shoulders and he’s walking away.

He doesn’t want to keep bagging down Marky with his shit. Marky told him to come to him when he needed help when he was dropping, and Matthew’s definitely not in a drop.

He hears Alex call his name and he gets up to meet her outside the locker room.

* * *

The horn signaling the end of the period goes off and Connor knows that each Oiler is going to be black and blue by the time the game finishes. He’s a little worried for Leon because the Flames have been headhunting him each time Drat steps onto the ice, but Connor knows that Leon can handle himself. They will survive. But their bruises isn’t the reason Connor grabs the back of Leon’s sweater and drags them to the small dingy excuse of a breakroom near their locker rooms that never gets used.

“Davo?” Leon asks tiredly, and Connor can read the exhaustion on Leon’s face despite the dim lighting.

“What happened out there, Drat?” Connor asks, making his way to Leon where he was sitting on the table, pressing their foreheads together.

Leon leans into the contact and the next minute is spent breathing quietly with each other before Leon speaks, “Tkachuk crashed into Smithy’s net. I was right behind him so when he went down, I went down behind him. Ended up on top of him. I told him to stay down.”

There is a pause before Leon’s eyes are dilated as he looks at Connor in his eyes, “He stopped fighting me and stayed down. He was  _ submitting _ to me.”

“Tkachuk submitted to me too when he was down. He wouldn’t get up for any of his Dom teammates on the ice.” Connor murmurs. He had been watching Tkachuk lie on the ground motionless as he stood next to the Oiler’s bench and how some of the white sweaters on the ice tried to coax Tkachuk up to no avail. He even catches a frustrated Markstrom trying to jump the boards on the Flames’ bench only to be held back by a coach. It wasn’t until Johnny had skated up to him in desperation and explained that nobody trusted Leon near Tkachuk that Connor made his way over there and was surprised when Tkachuk rose.

“Do you think…?” Leon asks, trailing off.

Connor knows what he’s asking. They’ve talked about this before. Leon and Connor, they were a couple because of love and understanding, deepened when Leon had to piece Connor back together a couple of years ago. They would always be loyal to each other. But they weren’t compatible. Leon needed a Sub that would challenge him and while Connor was one of the rare people in the world who identified as a Switch, he’s more Dom than a Sub on the spectrum and he needs control, which wasn’t something Leon could give up naturally as a Dom. Their union was mismatched and incomplete, and they knew it. But maybe with Tkachuk, they could make it work. And they both knew that Tkachuk was looking to get collared by his next birthday.

“I think so,” Connor nodded.

Leon looks at Connor, concerned, “Are you sure you want this, Davo? You know I will always pick you, right? I won’t do this if you’re unsure.”

Connor feels a burst of warmth from his chest. He loves this person in front of him. 

“I’m sure.” Connor confirms as he pulls Leon into a quick kiss before he pulls them out of the room to rejoin their teammates. 

* * *

Matthew’s pretty out of it still when he sits on the bench. His awareness is shit and he knows it. He can tell it’s a brutal game playing out in front of him. His teammates carry out hard checks against any Oiler they can reach. At one point, Monny slams an Oiler hard enough that he gets sent down the tunnel. Matthew thinks it's Nugent-Hopkins. And Johnny’s wearing a frustrated frown on his face after that. The Flames are winning 4-1 with the Oilers scrambling, trying to be aware of the hits and make a play at the same time when they have possession. The coaches don’t send Matthew out a lot, and they are careful to make sure Draisaitl isn’t on the ice when they do.

The periods pass in a blur and the next thing Matthew knows is that he’s in the last one in the shower, trying to clear his head. Realizing he’s the only one left in the showerroom, Matthew closes the showerhead and wraps a towel around himself before making his way back into the locker room to change.

The locker room is mostly empty when he comes out and he’s thankful. He doesn’t think he can handle a bunch of worried teammates right now. 

It’s when Matthew is slipping on his shoes that Marky sits next to Matthew.

“Would you like some company tonight? I don’t think you should be alone.” Marky speaks gently.

Matthew knows he probably shouldn’t be alone, but he shakes his heads anyway, “I’ll call you tomorrow okay? I just want to be alone.”

Marky gives Matthew a long look and doesn’t mention the fact that they’ll see each other at breakfast in the hotel before they hop on the plane for Vancouver anyways. He sighs as he gets up again, “Text me if you change your mind. You know you’re always welcome, Matty.”

Matthew does smile at that, “Thanks Marky. You’re the best.”

Marky gives Matthew a small smile. “Do you need a ride back to the hotel? The team bus already left.”

Matthew had almost forgotten that they weren’t in Calgary anymore and that their management allows them to do whatever they want when they play in Edmonton, provided they get back to the hotel before curfew and to not do anything stupid. 

“Nah. You can go. I’ll catch an Uber later. I’m going to stay here for a while," Matthew says.

Marky gives Matthew a worried onceover and nods as he stands to join Tanev at the door. "I will let the coaches know you will check into the hotel late," Marky says and Matthew is suddenly alone in the locker room.

He finds his phone and turns it on as he curls up into the bench he’s sitting on. He doesn’t want to go to the hotel quite yet.

He’s replying to his massive pile of texts, that he’s alright, and that nobody needs to go kill Draisaitl. He’s in the middle of telling Brady and Taryn about what happened in their group chat when his phone rings. It’s his dad.

Matthew bites his lips. He knows he shouldn’t answer the phone. He knows that his Dad is going to belittle him again. But there is always a nagging hope in the back of his mind that, maybe, this time would be different. Maybe his dad saw what happened and got worried. Maybe he’s calling to apologize. Besides. Matthew’s day had been utter shit. It couldn’t get any worse.

Matthew picks up his phone.

“Hi Dad,” Matthew says.

“ _ What the fuck was that? So what, you just become a useless sack of shit when you’re near a Dom? Is that it? I didn’t raise a pathetic weakling-” _

The barrage continues and Matthew grips his phone so hard, his knuckles are turning white. He’s pretty sure he’s crying. He’s not sure. He also doesn’t hear it when the door to the locker room starts to open nor does he realize that his Dad is yelling so loud through his phone that the two people frozen at the door can hear the venomous words from across the room.

* * *

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Leon hisses from where they’re hiding around the corner of the hallway containing the visitor locker rooms. 

One of the trainers owed Connor a favour and Connor had sent the poor guy to monitor the visitor’s locker room. He was supposed to tell them when Tkachuk left the room so they could maybe track him down with whichever teammates he’s with. Connor figured that dealing one or two Flames would be better than facing the entire team off the ice after the game they had.

“It will be fine, would you relax.” Connor hissed.

“Davo? Draisaitl?” a voice appeared next to them, causing the two Oilers to jump. Connor stifled a shriek.

“What the fuck, Gaudreau?” Leon asked from beside Connor, annoyance clear in his tone.

“I should be asking you that. This is the visitor team’s locker area.” Johnny points out with a raised eyebrow.

“Is there something you need, Johnny?” Connor asks once he gets his voice-box to work.

Johnny seems to hesitate before he visibly deflates, “Do you know if Ryan is okay? I’ve tried calling him, but he won’t pick up.”

“Nugent-Hopkins?” Connor asks, just to be sure.

Johnny nods, a faint blush on his cheeks, “Yeah.”

Connor raises an eyebrow in surprise, “He’s okay. Just twisted his knee. The trainers thought it would be better to send Nuge home considering tonight’s game.”

Johnny looked relieved and he was about to open his mouth to say something when Connor remembered something, “Oh wait. Here. This was why Nuge wasn’t picking up. He forgot his phone in the locker room. Are you going to see him?”

“Yes, um. Kailer’s driving me.” Johnny says, embarrassed. 

Leon lets a snort of surprise escape him as Connor nods. Connor reaches into his pocket to slip out a Samsung and holds it out for Johnny, “You can give Nuge his phone then, when you see him.”

“I- Okay. Thanks, Davo.” Johnny mumbles as he tentatively takes Nuge’s phone from Davo’s hands. Suddenly, Johnny’s eyes turn suspicious, “You two are here for Matty, right?”

“Um.” Connor winces and he elbows Leon when he moves to snark back defensively.

Johnny sighs and rolls his eyes, but he pivots on his feet and steps into Leon’s space who’s glaring at Johnny, “Look asshole. I don’t have to give this talk to Davo because he has history with Matty and isn’t a dick to him. But I know you have this notion that Matty’s some tough asshole who runs his mouth. That’s true, on the ice. But Matty’s not like that off of it. He’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. He’s also really sensitive. That shit you told those reporters in that All-Star game a couple of years ago? Matty was miserable for weeks. And-” Johnny chokes off.

Leon’s frozen, his eyes’ wide. Connor reaches out to grab his hand.

Johnny deflates and his voice turns sad, “Matty’s suffering. He won’t tell me or anyone what’s wrong. He’s been better since he and Marky have their arrangement, or whatever, but still. I won’t let you hurt him. He’s my best friend. I won’t let you add to his suffering.”

Connor takes a look at Leon, and knows immediately that his boyfriend’s at a loss for words. So he steps closer to Johnny, nudging him gently by his shoulders.

“We won’t hurt Matty, Johnny. I promise. We just want to talk to him and see if he will let us try. If he says no, we will walk out and never bother him again.” Connor soothes.

Johnny looks like he wants to protest, but he is cut off when there is a voice down the hallway calling his name.

“Johnny!” Kailer calls from down the hall. “What the hell, dude? I thought we agreed to - oh. Hi Davo. Drat. Uh. Why are you here?” 

Connor wants to bang his head against the wall. Apparently they’re utter trash at being inconspicuous. Or maybe it’s just Connor. Leon had wanted to find a better hiding spot.

“Hey, Yammers.” Connor says, a forced smile on his face. “I didn’t know you and Johnny were friends.”

Kailer shrugs and slings an arm around Johnny, “He’s not too bad. Nuge and I adopted him.”

Johnny scoffs, “I’m not a dog, Kailer.”

“Aw, does puppy want a treat?” Kailer coos.

“I’m going to kill you,” Johnny hisses, jabbing Kailer at his sides as he dances away with a laugh.

“Alright, alright. I’m sorry. Let’s go, yeah? Nuge’s gone radio silent.” Kailer grins as he latches back onto Johnny.

“Nah, asshole just forgot his phone in the locker room,” Johnny grumbles, “Davo had it.”

Kailer laughs as he pulls Johnny past Connor and Leon towards the exits, “Alright. We’re leaving. See you guys tomorrow!” Kailer calls as the two of them laugh and bicker down the hallway.

Connor and Leon are silent for a bit until Leon asks quietly, “Did you know Gaudreau was close to Yammers and Nuge?”

Connor shakes his head, “Nope. They didn’t say anything. It’s none of our business anyways. What did you think Johnny meant about Tkachuk’s suffering?”

Leon shrugs his shoulders helplessly, “I don’t know. I didn’t know Tkachuk was so affected by my words. I was trying to joke, and I might have been a little drunk.”

Connor shot Leon with a look of disapproval, “You were drinking? I thought I told you to wait until after the media shit.”

“The whole thing is a media shitshow. What are you talking about, Davo?” Leon sighs tiredly.

Before Connor could snip back, Connor’s phone buzzes in his hand. It’s the trainer that they had sent ahead as a lookout.

_ Everyone left. I didn’t see Tkachuk. I think he’s the only one in there. I’m leaving. _

“Tkachuk is still in the locker room but apparently he’s alone,” Connor frowns.

“Let’s go then,” Leon nods, marching down the hallway, Connor jogging behind him to catch up.

They stop outside of the locker room, “Should we go in?” Connor whispers.

Leon frowns, “Maybe we should wait for him to come out. It might be too much, to just barge in there unannounced.”

Connor frowned as he ran a frustrated hand through his hair, “It’s getting late though, and Jack said that he didn’t even see Tkachuk. Maybe he already left. Let’s just check. If he’s changing or something we can just wait outside, but at least we’d know he’s in there.”

“You’re the boss,” Leon shrugged as he stepped forward to open the door. Only to stop. 

Connor peaks over his boyfriend’s shoulders and his heart breaks at the broken look on Tkachuk’s face. It was then that Connor started to register the angry and ugly words spilling from the phone that Tkachuk is holding in a vice-like grip.

_ -can never do anything right! You need to do better! Do you hear me, boy? Subs like you have no place in the fucking League. Fucking pathetic. I have no idea how you even got this far. That you’re the sack of shit that Brady has to look up to - _

Connor’s breath caught and he could tell Leon was doing everything he could to not punch something. Leon was gripping the edge of the door he was holding open so hard, Connor was certain he was going to dent it somehow. 

It was seeing Tkachuk start to curl further into himself that Connor managed to unstick his feet from the floor. Gently, he prodded Leon and they both quietly made their way over to Tka- _ Matthew _ .

Connor kneeled next to Matthew as Leon pried the phone away from Matthew’s hand and ended the call before throwing it against the wall hard enough that it shattered. Connor winced. They were going to have to replace that. But that wasn’t what Connor was worrying about right now. It was the glazed over look in Matthew’s eyes and the fact he didn’t seem to be aware that Connor and Leon were right in front of him.

Sometimes when a Sub is under extreme stress, their body forces them into a drop strong enough that they lose all coherent thought and are reduced to their baseline instincts.

“Matthew,” Connor calls quietly, hoping to get the Sub’s attention. 

There’s no reaction from the Sub and Connor feels tears prickling at his eyes. He feels helpless. But then, he’s suddenly being shoved aside and Leon’s the one kneeling in front of Matthew, with a water bottle that he had produced from somewhere.

Connor watches as Leon gently brings the open water bottle to Matthew’s lips and tips it just enough for the liquid to trickle into Matthew’s mouth. He’s also whispering encouragement and tells Matthew to swallow when he pours the water into Matthew’s mouth. Leon also tells Matthew what a good job he’s doing.

It reminds Connor of memories from years ago. When Connor had been just a shell of what he used to be. Leon had followed him home one day, took one look at the disaster zone that Connor called home and had proceeded to spend the next months and years rebuilding Connor back to the person he once was.

Connor’s shaken out of his head when Leon elbows him. 

“Ow,” Connor hisses, “What the fuck-”

Leon talks over Connor, “We need to take Matthew home. He needs constant contact, warmth, and rest. We also need to keep him hydrated. Otherwise he will come out of this drop in a worst state. We need to help him out of his drop gradually and he won’t be back to normal until at least morning.”

“How do you know…?” Connor asks.

Leon rolls his eyes, “I thought Americans were the one with the shitty Health education. It's a stress-induced drop. It’s different from a normal Sub drop. Here, grab Matthew’s things and help me carry Matthew. And you’re driving.”

“Our education is not that much better than the Americans.” Connor sighed as he quickly gathers the rest of the hockey gear in Matthew’s stall and stows them away in his hockey bag. He slings Matthew’s black and red Flames emblazoned hockey bag onto his shoulder with his own bright orange and blue Oilers’ hockey bag. Connor looks at the remains of Matthew’s phone and goes to pick out the SIM card from the wreckage and pockets it, before he goes to help Leon lift Matthew’s other shoulder. It’s hard work, dragging a deadweight 200 pound hockey player through doors and down hallways into the private parking garage. 

Eventually they make it to their small black Mercedes and Leon settles in the back seat with Matthew curled into his lap. Connor watches as Leon texts someone furiously through his rearview mirror as he pulls out of Rogers Place.

“Who are you texting?” Connor asks.

“I got Kailer to give his phone to Gaudreau. I’m telling him what’s going on. They’re going to have to put Matthew on a later flight tomorrow. He won’t make it to their early morning flight. Gaudreau’s furious, he thinks this is our fault.” Leon explains quietly.

“You didn’t tell Johnny about Matthew’s dad?” Connor wonders out loud.

“No. Matthew didn’t tell Gaudreau about his abusive father. This should be something that should come from Matthew, not me,” Leon reasons, as he checks his phone again, “Apparently the only reason he’s not on his way over to get Matthew is because of Kailer and Ryan.”

“Remind me to send them a fruit basket or something,” Connor murmurs as they lapsed into silence.

* * *

It’s not long until they reach their house in the suburbs of Edmonton and they don’t waste any time carrying Matthew into the house and they strip him down to his t-shirt and boxers before tucking him under the blankets of their large bed. Leon joins Matthew under the blankets not long afterwards and he instructs Connor to grab another bottle of water from their kitchen.

Connor accepts his role as errand boy since Leon seems to know what he’s doing. He’s quick, jogging down the stairs and into the kitchen, wincing when he clips the edge of the doorway with his bruised shoulder. He grabs one of the unopened water bottles from the fridge and hurries back up the stairs.

He comes back to the sight of Leon holding Matthew securely to his chest. Matthew’s eyes are open but they still don’t look like he’s quite there. That he’s looking without actually seeing. But Matthew’s cheeks aren’t as pale as they were back in the Visitor’s Locker Rooms in Rogers Place, so Connor takes that as a good sign.

Leon notices Connor staring at them in the doorway to their bedroom like a creep and he rolls his eyes in exasperation, “Get over here and be useful, Davo. Don’t just stand there.”

“Alright, alright,” Connor says with a laugh as he makes his way to the bed. He leans over and Leon sits up, bringing Matthew up with him. Connor brings the bottle to Matthew’s lips and tips the bottle gently, just like how Leon did when Connor watched him do it back in Rogers Place. Leon’s whispering softly into Matthew’s ear as Connor manages to get Matthew to drink half of the water bottle before he refuses to drink more.

Connor caps the water bottle once Matthew’s finished with it and starts to strip down to his own t-shirt and boxers before slipping under the covers with Leon and Matthew. Leon having already laid them both down after Matthew was done drinking.

Connor settles beside Matthew so that they were sandwiching Matthew in the middle and he shuffles closer to wrap an arm around him and Leon. He remembers that Leon had said that Matthew had needed warmth and constant contact.

Matthew seems to melt in their hold and he seems to settle. It’s not long until Matthew falls asleep, soft snores coming from where he had buried his face into Connor’s chest. 

“Are you sure Matthew is going to be okay? Shouldn’t we have called a trainer?” Connor whispers.

“Matthew’s going to be fine.” Leon reassures Connor, “My sister, back home in Germany. She was in a car crash on the Autobahn back when she first got her driver’s license. She was like this too. The doctor took one look at her and told me to keep her hydrated and to hold her through the night and she will be fine. And she was. Matthew will be fine in the morning too.”

“Okay,” Connor closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He's remembering the feeling of helplessness he had felt a little more than an hour ago, even if it had felt like longer, and maybe... “Leon. What if I’m not good at this? I want this to be good for Matthew. I don’t want to screw up-”

Leon cuts off Connor with a harsh whisper, “You won’t screw up, okay? Forget what Eichel told you. He was just fucking with you. He made you think you were a horrible Dom. He did everything he could to make you doubt yourself. It's been fucking years, Connor. You have to stop letting the ghost of his actions and words control you."

Connor is silent as he tries to absorb Leon's voice. It's hard to forget. He can't even remember what he had for dinner last night, but he can still hear Eichel's words with startling clarity cut through his soul with a poisonous blade, even now.

Somehow, it is like Matthew knows that Connor is feeling distraught even though he can still hear Matthew's snores coming from his chest because Matthew is pressing closer to him. The extra weight is comfortable and it's enough to pull Connor back to the present.

"Connor," Leon whispers, more calmly, "You were never a bad Dom. I know you don't believe me and I hope that one day, you will see that I am right. But consider this. You were always a good Sub for me. Nothing ever went wrong. There is no reason for me or you to believe it will be any different when you Dom Matthew, if we are lucky to get a chance to. Now go to sleep. You will feel better in the morning."

Leon’s right, Connor wants to believe him, but he knows that he really doesn’t. But Connor’s too tired to try to argue so he closes his eyes and drifts off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys like this chapter, I'll be back next week with more :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the third installment of this fic <3 Thank you all for your lovely reviews. Keep them coming <3

Matthew wakes up in the morning slowly. The first thing he registers is that he feels warm and safe in a way he has never felt before. He sort of wants to bask in it and treasure this feeling forever. That dream is short-lived because the next thing he registers is that he needs to  _ pee,  _ so he’s gotta get out of bed sometime soon, which was just  _ sad _ . The third and slightly alarming thing he registers is that he doesn’t  _ remember _ what happened last night. The last thing he remembers was his dad was yelling at him through his phone, which is weird because those tend to lead to some of Matthew’s most shitty mornings, which doesn’t seem to be the case today. The final and even  _ more _ alarming thing he registers, is that his pillow that his face is squished into is  _ moving _ .

He jolts up. It’s even worse than he thought. There are  _ two  _ people in bed on both sides of him.  _ How the fuck? _ He remembers being in an empty locker room. How had he managed to pick up  _ two  _ people in  _ an empty locker room _ ? He’s mortified and he’s fascinated. He wishes he remembers what happened last night so he can take notes. 

But then he remembers his bladder and he realizes he’s about 2 seconds away from pissing himself, so he  _ flies _ off of the bed and opens the nearest door to be greeted with a bunch of clothing and hockey gear. Which.  _ Rude. _

“Washroom is out of the other door, two doors down to the left,” a voice calls from the bed.

Matthew  _ recognizes  _ that voice and he spins around and gaps at the amused expression of  _ Connor McDavid’s face _ for a second he really couldn’t afford before he’s sprinting out of the room like his life depends on it, and it really does feel like it. There was absolutely no way in hell that he was going to piss in his pants in front of  _ him _ .

It’s after he flushes the toilet that it really hits him that he had somehow managed to spend the night in bed with McJesus and what most likely was Draisaitl.  _ What. The. Fuck. _ He grips the edge of the sink and locks eyes with his reflection in the mirror. He wants to scream. Because he just spent a night in bed with his fucking  _ soulmate _ and he  _ knows _ they can’t ever be  _ anything.  _ Draisaitl is with Davo. He can already hear what the media is going to say. What his  _ dad _ is going to say.  _ Homewrecker. _ And Matthew doesn’t want that moniker. He doesn’t want to ruin someone’s happiness because he was being selfish. He’s trying so fucking hard to not be what his dad says he is so why is the universe making this so fucking  _ difficult?  _

He turns on the sink and splashes cold water onto his face. He’s debating whether he should just book it out of - wherever the fuck he is. But he doesn’t have his phone and getting caught coming out of somebody’s house half naked is a recipe for disaster. So he takes a deep breath, brushes his hair back in a half-assed attempt to tame his curls, and comes out of the washroom. Cautious, he returns to the bedroom where Davo and Draisaitl are quietly talking to each other.

“Where’s my phone?” Matthew asks, leaning against the doorway. He hopes he comes off relaxed and casual, and not as confused and lost as he really feels. He also really needs his phone. He’s not sure what time it is, but he’s not sure that he’s going to make that plane to Vancouver and his Coaches are probably  _ pissed _ that he had basically disappeared overnight without a word. And that’s not to mention his teammates. He’s certain they’re about to launch a search party at this very moment.

Matthew raises an eyebrow when a wince crosses Connor’s face and Draisaitl pointedly looks away from Matthew.

“Um,” Connor looks uncomfortable, or constipated, Matthew can’t really tell, “Leon smashed your phone against a wall last night.”

Matthew blinked, “Um. what. Why?” he asks incredulously, as he stared at Draisaitl who was stubbornly not meeting Matthew’s eyes. Matthew does notice that Draisaitl’s hands were clenched in his sheets.

“We wanted to talk to you last night about something and when we walked in you were on the phone with your dad? I think? Whoever it was was yelling at you so loud that we could hear it from the doorway. It was disgusting, actually. Leon got angry and threw your phone at the wall and it broke. We think that that was what made you go into a stress-induced drop.” Connor rambles.

But Matthew’s breath caught in his throat at the words ‘ _ phone with your dad’.  _ Because they  _ heard  _ that. It’s beyond humiliating. They  _ know _ how little his dad thinks of him. And his dad’s a retired, well-respected hockey player. If his dad thinks that Matthew is a useless waste of space, then they’re going to think that too now that they heard his dad say that.  _ Nobody _ on the team knows about what his dad really thinks of Matthew. They only know the loving father doting on his son that follows in his footsteps that they pretend to be for the media. Matthew had been so  _ careful _ , making sure to never look at his dad’s texts or pick up his calls in the vicinity of any of his teammates. To have Connor and Draisaitl find out this way, it’s his worst nightmare coming to life.

Matthew is unable to force back a sob and once he let’s a sob out, it doesn’t stop. Matthew feels like he’s been crying a lot the past weeks and it makes him sink to his knees in shame. 

_ Crying is for babies, Matthew. Stop crying. No son of mine that I raise will ever be a weak baby. Man up, you useless shit. _ His dad’s voice reverberates inside his skull.

Suddenly Matthew feels a pair of arms wrap around him and he’s being pulled into a tight hug. The effects are immediate, Matthew can already feel himself calming down. He’s still a sobbing mess, but it isn’t the ugly loud sobs that were ripping from his throat just seconds ago. Matthew realizes it’s Connor when he hears Connor’s voice above his head.

“Matthew. Matty. Sweetheart.” Connor says gently, “You’re okay. Your dad is full of shit. Do you know that? Everything he said on the phone, last night. They’re all disgusting lies. You are not a waste of space. You’re not bad. You’re a great hockey player. You’re a good Sub. You  _ belong _ in the NHL. You- You are so important. I hear the rumours, you know? They’re going to make you Captain when Giordarno retires. Your teammates love you. You’re going to be a great Captain. And do you know what’s even more important?” 

“What?” Matthew whispers, his voice betraying his confusion and fear. The Oilers weren’t acting like he had thought they would. Or how he had thought anyone would react when they found out.

“That you’re strong. You’re so full of personality. You always want the best for people. You always help if you can. I know we haven’t talked in a long time, but you know I still talk to Matts and Marns. They talk about you a lot, and it’s always about what good you did or how you cheered someone up.” Connor talks into Matthew’s hair. 

There’s footsteps and then Draisaitl is kneeling beside both Connor and Matthew and roping them both into a hug. It’s comfortable and it feels a little bit like how Matthew imagines home to feel like. It’s messing with Matthew’s mind.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” Matthew asks in a broken voice.

“Because you deserve to have people in your life to be nice to you, Matthew. You’re worth so much. To both me and Drat. To your teammates. To your brother and sister,” Connor whispers.

Matthew’s even more lost and he’s starting to think that maybe he’s dreaming because Connor just said that he’s worth so much to himself and Draisaitl, and like what. Draisatl hates him. Since when did that change?

“Do your siblings know about how your dad treats you?” It’s Draisaitl that asks and Matthew wants to snap at him, because it would be  _ familiar _ and something he could understand. But Matthew holds himself back. He’s confused and humiliated. He’s also a little angry because he’s humiliated. 

Except Connor and Draisaitl are being  _ nice  _ to him. He doesn’t want them to stop. He doesn’t want to be the one that ruins this. It might be the last time they’re ever nice to him, even if it’s out of pity.

So Matthew answers Draisaitl’s question, he even tells the truth, the thought of lying never even crossing his mind, “They know. But they disagree with my dad. But they’re my baby brother and sister. Of course they support me.”

“And Keith Tkachuk is supposed to support his son,” Draisaitl points out, “Besides, just because your brother and sister are supposed to support you, doesn’t mean their opinions are invalidated.”

Matthew feels like his world has been tipped on its axis. He had spent so long pushing away the problem and hiding it. Years of avoiding his home in St. Louis, hiding his father from his teammates, and trying to ignore his father’s words. He’s never considered the possibility that his father could just be  _ wrong. _

“He’s a respected hockey player,” Matthew says, and the reason sounds weak even to his own ears now that he says it out loud.

“Just because he’s a respected hockey player, doesn’t mean he can’t be a piece of shit who mistreats his son,” Draisaitl says sternly, but Matthew thinks he can hear a little sadness in his tone.

Matthew makes a frustrated sound, “I just can’t accept that everything my dad says are lies. He approves of Brady and Taryn. And he’s right about them, they’re amazing. So why would he lie about me? There has to be something wrong with me, right?”

Connor makes a noise that sounds like a whine from the back of his throat and he pulls Matthew in tighter.

Draisaitl’s arm tightens around the two of them as well, “There’s nothing wrong with you, Matthew. I don’t know why your dad is such a shit to you. But, I do know that he was wrong about you. Also, I wanted to apologize to you. I never should have said that I would get off the ice if you were on during the All-Stars a couple of years ago. I was tipsy and I was trying to play up the rivalry for the media. We worked well as a team.”

“It’s okay,” Matthew says faintly. He’s no longer sobbing, but he still feels confused and lost, if not more so. So he focuses on something else, “What did you need to talk to me about?”

“Why don’t we talk about that over breakfast?” Draisaitl says gently.

* * *

The three of them eventually get up from the ground and Connor digs out a new toothbrush for Matthew to use. It doesn’t take long for Matthew to find himself sitting on a bar stool at the island in the middle of the kitchen as he watches Draisaitl order Connor around the kitchen.

“Davo can’t cook. Anything he makes is inedible. You cannot let him loose in the kitchen unsupervised,” Draisaitl tells Matthew as he scrambles some eggs on the stove, using the oil that came from the bacon that he cooked prior.

Connor had protested weakly only to shut up when Draisaitl pointed out that he set the kitchen on fire the two times he stepped foot inside the kitchen by himself. 

“It smells good,” Matthew compliments just as Draisaitl starts to plate up the food. His eyes find Connor by the coffee pot and he says before Connor can ask, “Two cream please.”

Connor and Draisaitl smile at him and Matthew? Matthew is trying really hard to not slam his head into the table because he  _ wants  _ this. He wants to see Drai- _ Leon  _ and Connor smile at him all the time. Why does he always want things he can’t have? He’s never noticed how beautiful it is when Leon and Connor smile. Even if Leon has a large and ugly bruise on his cheek from when one of Matthew's teammates must have dropped the gloves on him last night.

Leon puts the plate of bacon and eggs in front of him as Connor places a red mug of coffee next to it. Matthew waits for the other two to sort themselves out and Leon seems to know what Matthew’s waiting for because he nods his permission before Matthew starts to reach for his fork.

The food is delicious. It’s just an easy basic breakfast, but it’s one of the best things he’s eaten and he moans in pleasure. Leon chuckles but there is a proud look on his face.

“Matthew,” Leon says when Matthew is cradling his mug of coffee after he finished inhaling his plate of food.

Matthew hummed in acknowledgement, his eyes flicking up to meet Leon’s own blue eyes.

“Me and Connor. We were looking for you last night, because we wanted to ask you if you would be interested in joining our relationship,” Leon says, his voice neutral. 

“What?” Matthew asks, his mouth dry.

“Not many people know this, but Connor is a Switch. He’s actually more Dom than a Sub and while he is a beautiful Sub - perfect even - we’ve never been compatible. We thought that maybe, if you were agreeable, that maybe we could be happy together, with you. Especially because of what happened on the ice last night,” Leon explains.

“Last night?” Matthew parrots weakly before a look of confusion crosses his face, “You mean when you used your Dom voice on me in the middle of a fucking game?”

“I didn’t know you were going to actually get affected by it,” Leon says patiently, “Besides, you got up when Connor ordered you to last night as well. Even when all of your Dom teammates on the ice with you at the time tried to get you to get up, you stayed down.”

Matthew frowns as his eyes flick to Connor who gave Matthew a soft smile when he noticed that Matthew’s eyes were on him. Matthew hadn’t known that his teammates had tried to help. When Connor had ordered him to get up last night, Matthew had assumed it was because he had been in the midst of the drop that Leon had inadvertently sent him into.

Did that mean he and Connor were extremely compatible too? Holy shit. Matthew pinches himself just to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.

_ Ow. _ Okay. Definitely not dreaming. 

“But aren’t you two dating? I don’t want to break you guys up,” Matthew whispers hoarsely.

“You won’t be breaking anyone up,” it’s Connor who speaks this time, his face a picture of sincerity. Connor reaches across the kitchen island to hold Matthew’s hand. Leon reaches out to capture Matthew’s other hand and the simple contact is so grounding that Matthew’s sort of blown away by the feeling.

Connor continues, “We would be dating each other. Nobody is breaking anybody up.”

Matthew’s eyes are wide, “This… This isn’t a joke?” He has to make sure. 

“Not a joke,” Connor confirms, giving Matthew’s hand a light squeeze.

Matthew freezes up. Because they aren’t joking. Well, Matthew didn’t think that Connor or Leon would joke about something like this, but it was also so fucking unbelievable that it was also the only conclusion that Matthew considered logical. And… Matthew’s torn. He had spent weeks going home with strange Dom’s trying to find something that works for him. He had been trying to find a perfect Dom. Matthew might have not even scened with either Leon or Connor, but he still remembers how warm and safe he felt when he woke up this morning. He’s never felt that with any of the Doms he had let take him home before. Hell, he’s never even felt that good with Matts or Marky and he didn’t even know that was possible. Matthew’s certain that scening with Leon and Connor would be absolutely mind-blowing. They’re exactly what Matthew’s looking for.

But now that he’s found them and it’s an actual possibility, doubts start to creep in. He’s a burden. Matthew’s dad was clear about this. What if he somehow breaks Leon and Connor up somehow? Matthew doesn’t think he will ever forgive himself. There’s another thought that’s even stronger than that. Matthew doesn’t think he deserves them, that he deserves this happiness that he has been looking for in the past months now that it’s being handed to him in his lap. Leon and Connor deserve better than him and he doesn’t want them to settle for him when they could have someone better. Even if their biology is telling them they’re as close to soulmates as they can get.

Except he can’t bring himself to say no. So, he quietly asks, “Could I think about it?”

Connor smiles and Matthew can hear his heart thumping in his chest, “Of course. Take as long as you need.”

“Okay,” Matthew agrees, shyly.

Before anyone can say anything, a phone rings. 

Leon looks regretful as he lets go of Matthew’s hand to go grab his phone off of the counter.

“Gaudreau,” Leon greets into his phone and Matthew perks up at his teammate’s name.

“Johnny?” Matthew whispers to Connor who nods.

The phone call is short, Matthew can’t make out the words but he can tell Johnny isn’t happy as he snaps at Leon over the phone. Leon makes a noise of acknowledgement before Johnny hangs up the phone.

“My morning flight…?” Matthew asks, suddenly reminded of the real world as he tries to fight back his panic. The Flames’ flight to Vancouver is at 9:30am and Matthew’s certain that he’s missed it. And Leon broke his phone.

Suddenly Leon’s in front of him and he’s being pulled into another hug. Matthew’s getting hugged a lot this morning and it’s strange, but welcome. 

“You’re fine. I texted Gaudreau last night that you weren’t going to make the morning flight. He and your coaches arranged it so you’ll get a flight a little later and Gaudreau stayed behind to make sure you wouldn’t be alone. The All-Stars weekend in Tampa is next week. Connor and I will get you a new phone when we see you there.” Leon explains.

“Did you tell him about my dad?” Matthew asks, a note of hysteria in his voice as he grabs Leon.

“Oh, Matthew,” Leon sounds pained as he pulls Matthew in closer, “I didn’t tell Gaudreau about that. But you know your teammates love you right? They will stand with you.”

Matthew is silent. He knows that Leon is probably correct, but it doesn’t change the fact that he’s  _ scared. _ Terrified, even. The thought of Monny’s, Johnny’s, Noah’s, and the rest of his beloved teammates’ faces twisting into disgust at the sight of him like his dad does - it would be too much. Matthew would break. It feels too much of a risk.

Leon seems to get it though, he squeezes Matthew again before he lets him go, “Gaudreau said Kailer’s going to drive him over here in half an hour and Kailer’s going to drive the two of you to the airport. So you should probably get ready.”

Matthew blinks and he thinks for a second, “Yamamoto?”

“Yeah,” Leon nods.

Connor speaks up from where he was watching them fondly, “We should at least wear some pants, Leon.”

Leon rolls his eyes, “We’ve all changed in the same locker room before. Some leg isn’t going to kill them.”

Connor rolls his eyes right back but there is a smile on his face as he walks over. He gently reaches out to intertwine his fingers with Matthew’s own and tugs him out of the kitchen.

* * *

“I thought Leon hated me,” Matthew says, as he sits on the bed. He’s waiting for Connor who’s trying to find a clean pair of sweatpants.

Connor gives up and mutters something about doing the laundry before he grabs a pair of sweatpants that was folded up neatly on a nearby chair. Matthew thinks it might be Leon’s.

“Leon?” Connor turns to look at Matthew, a confused expression plastered on his face, “He doesn’t hate you. He thinks you’re annoying on the ice and stuff, but that’s just hockey shit. You’re a good player and he respects you. He’s always been a little jealous about how close you seem to be with your team.”

“Is he not close with your team?” Matthew wonders out loud, he had always thought that the whole Oilers pack were close.

“We are, but like, not as much as the Flames? I guess. I mean, we all get on great, but we tend to group off. Like Nuge-” Connor catches the confused look on Matthew’s face so he’s quick to clarify, “Nugent-Hopkins, Yamamoto, and Bear tend to hang out together. Neal, Kassian, Larsson, and Khaira tend to go off and do their own thing. Like no matter how many times we do team-bonding stuff, we would eventually just break off into smaller groups without fail. You and your team, you all seem tight, like you all care for each other. It’s nice.” Connor tries to explain.

Matthew makes a thoughtful noise, “Is this you saying that the Flames are the better team? The Oilers’ own Captain? Turning traitor already?”

“Oh my god,” Connor laughs, “No. My team is better.”

“Uh huh,” Matthew grins, a little too wide. “That’s not what the scoreboard says last night.”

Connor levels Matthew with a glare, “Just you wait. Next game, we’re flattening you guys.”

Matthew is about to snipe back when the doorbell rings and Matthew can hear Leon opening the door. Johnny’s angry voice floats up the stairs, asking about Matthew and that he’s going to absolutely kill Leon if Matthew is hurt. There’s an unfamiliar voice who sounds exasperated as they yell at Johnny to calm down and that he’s sure Matthew is fine.

“We should probably go down there so we can show Johnny that you’re still alive,” Connor says wryly.

Matthew gives a small laugh as he follows Connor out of the bedroom. It feels nice to know that Johnny is so protective of him. 

“Hey Johnny,” Matthew peaks at the pair of arguing men over Connor’s shoulder. A guy that Matthew recognizes who must be Yamamoto is standing off to the side watching Leon and Johnny yell at each other with a tired expression.

Johnny abruptly stops yelling and spins on his heels. Connor steps aside and Matthew waves, “I’m alive.”

“Matty!” Johnny scrambles to Matthew, his eyes frantically looking Matthew over, “Are you hurt?”

“Nope,” Matthew says, popping the ‘p’. “Leon and Connor have been good to me. Except for my phone. Leon destroyed that.”

“Christ, Matthew,” Johnny murmurs as he yanks Matthew into a hug, “I was so scared. When Draisaitl said that you were in a stress-induced drop, I didn’t know what to think. I was so worried. I was about to come find you when Ryan and Kailer talked me out of it.”

“I’m okay,” Matthew says, “I’m fine. It was nothing. It's stupid.”

Matthew can see Leon clenching his fists and Connor makes a sound of protest over Johnny's shoulder but he glares at them. He doesn’t want Johnny to know.

“Uh huh,” Johnny says in disbelief, but he lets it go. “Come on, our flight is at 12:30. We should go.”

Before Johnny can drag Matthew out of the house, Leon catches Matthew’s arm and Johnny shoots Leon lasers with his glare that Leon ignores, his gaze focused on Matthew.

“You will think about what we asked, yes?” Leon asks, his expression serious.

Matthew hesitates before he nods.

Leon studies his face and he must have seen something in Matthew’s expression that he liked because he nods. “Good. Here, don’t forget your hockey bag.” Leon says as he passes Matthew his red and black bag from where it was lying next to his feet. Matthew barely catches it before Johnny starts to drag them away.

* * *

Johnny lets Matthew use his phone when they’re on the plane. Everyone on the team knows something had happened last night and it’s why Matthew and Johnny missed their morning flight. They want answers that Matthew doesn’t really want to give so he just tells them that he’s okay and that he would hang out with them before their game tonight.

Matthew just opened a new chat with Brady and Taryn - he’s grateful that he can remember their numbers by heart - when Johnny’s head slumps onto his shoulder, dead asleep. Matthew smiles fondly as he texts his siblings that he is okay and that his old phone is dead, that he will call them later using somebody’s phone.

He doesn’t wait for a reply and turns Johnny’s phone off before lying back to get a nap in as well.

* * *

It’s Marky that meets them at the airport, his ball cap pushed down and a pair of sunglasses covering his face, trying to look inconspicuous as possible in the Arrivals waiting area. He spots the two missing Flames first and he’s quick on his feet.

It’s also why Matthew nearly dies of a heart attack because he had been laughing at something Johnny said and the next thing he knows he’s being lifted up in the air.

“Marky,” Matthew screeches into the Swede’s ear, “Put me down!”

It’s a miracle that nobody recognizes them because Matthew’s shriek draws a lot of attention on them. They wait for everybody to realize nothing interesting is happening before they try to speak again.

“I was so worried. I shouldn’t have left you alone yesterday,” Marky whispers. He hasn’t let go of Matthew yet.

Matthew feels guilty that he made Marky worry, but he’s relieved that Marky wasn’t there to hear that phone call with his dad. Or maybe he wouldn’t have picked up the phone in the first place, he doesn’t know. 

“I’m sorry,” Matthew whispers.

“No, Sweetheart. You have nothing to be sorry for,” Marky soothes, “Come on. Let’s get to the hotel. I had to fight for the right to pick the two of you up, you know.”

“Oh please,” Johnny snorts, “Nobody would have cared if it was just me. Y’all here for Matty.”

“Aw, Johnny. You know we love you too,” Marky smiles as he lets go of Matthew to pull Johnny into a hug. Well, it looked like he was going to, but he lifts a flailing Johnny over his shoulders and instructs Matthew to follow them to the car.

Matthew laughs as he goes to pick up the bag that Johnny dropped and follows them out of the airport.

* * *

Marky is named the starting goalie for tonight’s game and Matthew can tell that it means a lot to Marky. It’s not the first time that they’ve played in Vancouver since Marky’s arrival in Calgary, but Vancouver has been home for a lot of years for Marky, so playing in Vancouver is always a special occasion for him. For Tanev too. 

Matthew’s happy for them as he warms up in front of the fans. He watches as Marky meets Pettersson in the middle and they bump their gloves together, causing the fans to cheer. Matthew’s surprised when Marky waves Matthew over from where he was practicing his stick-handling. 

“Hey Pettersson,” Matthew greets as he skates up to the pair, “Ready to lose?”

“Call me Elias or Petey,” Petey says, “And we’re totally kicking your collective asses tonight. I know of all of Marky’s weak spots.” 

Marky rolls his eyes, “And I know all of your shots too, Petey. You’re not getting anything past me.”

Petey sticks his tongue out at Marky and Matthew laughs, “We already got an Elias, you can be Petey.”

Lindholm hears Matthew say this as he skates by them and calls back, “I’m the hotter Elias anyways!”

“Not with your ugly mug, asshole!” Petey shouts back and Lindholm cackles as he skates away.

“Are we still on for tonight?” Matthew asks quietly when they fall silent.

Petey gives Matthew a look, “Of course. I want to hear about what happened last night.”

Matthew lets out a quiet ‘ _ Oh’ _ , before they’re being ushered off the ice to get ready for the first period.

He doesn’t know if he wants to tell Petey everything that transpired last night, but he also feels like he might not have a choice. Petey’s insanely perceptive and always seems to know exactly what is running through Matthew’s mind. 

Matthew takes a deep breath and clears his mind. He has a game to play and players to rile up.

* * *

It’s a close game. Matthew was on Petey whenever they were on the ice together and Matthew does manage to bully the puck away from the young Swede several times to regain possession. It doesn't take long before Virtanen gets fed up and delivers a solid check to Matthew the next time he successfully snatches the puck off of Petey’s stick. Petey swipes the puck back when Matthew’s blinking stars out of his eyes and executes a pass to Hughes which somehow, through some bullshittery ends with a messy goal. Matthew is pretty sure the puck took a weird bounce off of Noah’s skate based on the replay on the jumbotron. 

The Flames get a goal when Lindholm manages to fake out Holtby on a breakaway during the second period. But the game-winning goal comes in the form of Backy’s no-look pass from where he wins the puck from a scrum against the boards behind Holtby’s net and Matthew bats it out of the air, right under Holtby’s arm and into the net with five minutes to go in the final period.

Of course, the game is not over yet, and somehow the Flames lose all their momentum and they are scrambling. They’ve pulled Holtby so it's 6 vs 5 and the Canucks are generating very good chances. Horvat finally manages to get one past Marky and the goal horn sounds but Matthew thinks it might just be a bit too late. So the Flames wait for the refs to figure it out and they watch with bated breaths as a ref starts to skate to the middle of the ice. 

“The puck crossed the goal line 0.3 seconds past the clock. There is no goal. The Calgary Flames win!” The ref calls to the booing crowd.

But Matthew doesn’t care and he dutifully climbs over the boards to join the celebrations.

* * *

Matthew had just finished changing when Johnny attaches himself at Matthew’s hip.

“Now that’s how we win a game!" Johnny cheered in Matthew’s ear and Matthew felt a happy laugh bubble out of his lips.

Matthew quickly tossed his gear into his bag and shouldered it before he allowed Johnny to pull him out of the locker room. Johnny’s chattering away about something, but Matthew is distracted.

“Matty!” Petey screams as he nearly bowls over Matthew, “You were being  _ meannnn _ .”

Matthew laughs as he catches Petey, “I told you I was going to kick your ass up and down the rink.” 

“You said you were going to kick my ass, not be all over me. That’s Marky’s job!” Petey snorts.

“Oh  _ ew.  _ What the  _ fuck _ . I did  _ not  _ need to know that. Marky, control your man!” Matthew wails, clamping his hands over his ears.

“Who says I’m the one with the power in this relationship?” Marky says, far too innocently from where he’s standing with Tanev, Lindy, and Backy who are all in various states of mirth.

Matthew gives up the charade and joins in with the laughter. He’s so busy laughing that he misses the complicated look on Johnny’s face as he looks back and forth in between him and Petey. It’s a look that is a mix of confusion, hurt, jealousy, resignation, and sadness. But Matthew doesn’t notice.

“What’s going on here, boys? The bus will be leaving soon.” the Head Coach for the Flames calls from the end of the hallway. “Come on boys, move.”

“Coming Coach!” Lindy yells back as the group makes their way for the exit.

Lindy, Tanev, and Backy wave at Marky, Petey, and Matthew once they part ways after exiting the arena. Johnny hesitates before he offers up a half-hearted wave as well before he follows after them. Matthew thinks that he might have seen a sad look on Johnny’s face but he doesn’t get a chance to think about it because Coach Ward, their Head Coach, suddenly starts talking.

“Markstrom, I want Tkachuk back at the hotel before curfew. Are we clear?” Coach Ward says sternly.

“Yes sir,” Marky nods as he wraps an arm around Matthew who’s still spluttering.

“Marky isn’t my keeper,” Matthew complains to deaf ears.

Coach Ward nods before his stance relaxes, “Matthew, if you ever need to talk. You know where to find me, okay? We are all a team here, and I know you have been struggling with finding a Dom. But your mental health comes first, okay?”

“Thanks Coach, I will find you if I need to talk,” Matthew smiles, a feeling of warmth spreading from his chest.

“Good,” Coach Ward nods, “Have a good night, boys. Text me when the two of you get to the hotel.”

“Will do,” Marky confirms and with a final nod, Coach Ward heads to the team bus as well.

* * *

The car ride to Petey's house is quiet. Matthew spends it looking out of the window as Marky and Petey talk quietly to each other in the front. Matthew doesn’t want to eavesdrop. He knows that he’s already taking up one of the rare times the couple could be spending together during the season alone, but both Marky and Petey hadn’t allowed Matthew to say no. Petey had even sent Matthew a selfie that had Petey making a sad puppy look and Matthew had caved not long after.

It’s not long before the scenery outside changes from various storefronts and gas stations to a nice neighbourhood. Petey pulls up into the driveway of a nice looking house that looks a little too big for just one person and Matthew can see another car parked in the driveway. Either Petey likes his cars or he has a roommate. Judging by the size of the house, he’s guessing roommate.

Petey is quick to hustle Matthew and Marky into the house, telling them to leave their bags since he will be driving them back to their hotels later. Matthew’s theory about Petey having a roommate is proven correct when Petey opens the door to reveal Quinn Hughes walking out of what seems to be the kitchen with a plate of leftovers in his hands.

Quinn also doesn’t seem to be surprised to see them so Matthew is guessing that he knew about Petey’s plans.

“Hey guys,” Quinn waves, “I’m heading to my room. Rest of the house is yours.”

“Thanks Quinn,” Petey smiles as he slips his shoes off into the mat beside the door.

Matthew follows Petey’s lead and slips his own shoes off before following Marky and Petey into the kitchen. He’s about to step foot into the kitchen when Hughes calls his name.

“Quinn, what’s up?” Matthew turns to Quinn. 

“Are you alright?” Warm brown eyes look at him imploringly.

“Brady set you up for this, didn’t he?” Matthew asks.

Quinn shrugs, “Not really? He’s worried, but I didn’t tell him you were going to be here tonight. I mean, Brady’s my friend and you’re his brother that he won’t shut up about. Of course I’m worried.”

Matthew is taken by surprise by Quinn’s words. Of course Matthew knows that Quinn is Brady’s friend, but he hadn’t realized that that had meant being a part of the circle of people Quinn cared about. 

He walks over to Quinn to carefully pull him into a hug, making sure he doesn’t jostle Quinn’s plate of food too much, “Thanks bro. I’m okay. Come down before I leave, yea?”

“Sure,” Quinn agrees, “Have fun with the lovebirds. You can hang with me if you get bored.”

“Will do,” Matthew grins before letting Quinn retreat to the stairs.

* * *

When Matthew enters the kitchen, Petey immediately hustles him into a chair before going back to order an exasperated Marky around the kitchen. It’s a little funny because it almost looks exactly like how Leon had been ordering Connor around the kitchen this morning in Edmonton. Except Marky is noticeably not as hopeless in the kitchen as Connor and Petey seems to be getting a kick out of bullying Marky around the kitchen. It’s really quite funny to watch. Most Doms that Matthew knows would never in a million years, tolerate that from a Sub. But Marky is incredibly patient, even if he did look a little homicidal when Petey knocks into him again to argue about whether or not it should be 2 teaspoons of salt or 2 tablespoons. At one point, Matthew even offers to help only for Petey to politely inform him that Matthew’s the guest of honor and if he so much as touches the bowl of spices, he’s going to get an egg cracked over his head. The manic look on Petey’s face told Matthew that that was a fight he wasn’t going to win so he obligingly sits back down.

It’s not long until Petey sets a dish of spaghetti topped with tomato sauce and Swedish meatballs with a look of pride on his face. Matthew’s not too sure if it’s quite meal plan-friendly but he remembers the bacon that he had eaten for breakfast this morning and promptly decides that today would be a cheat day. 

The three don’t chat much over dinner but Matthew compliments Marky and Petey on the dish because it really is delicious. He’s not sure what spices they put in there but it enhances the dish a lot. The Swedish meatballs were definitely of a tier on its own, Matthew’s only ever had the ones you get from Ikea and well, there really is no comparison.

When they finish eating, Matthew gets up and starts to reach for the empty plates, but Petey bats Matthew’s hands away. “I can do the dishes before I go to bed tonight, it’s okay. Come on. Let’s go to the living room.”

Matthew wants to protest but Petey’s looking at him with a knowing look and he rolls his eyes, “Quit stalling, Matty. I want to know what happened when McDavid and Draisaitl kidnapped you yesterday and how Gaudreau had to save you from them this morning.”

Matthew glares at Marky who shrugs in a ‘What can you do?’ manner, “You try hiding something from Petey. It’s impossible.”

Matthew sighs, before he finally says, “I wasn’t trying to stall.” He really wasn’t. He was trying to be a good guest, but it would have been an added bonus to push off this conversation.

“Uh huh. And you definitely didn’t look like you wanted to bolt when I said I wanted to hear everything earlier,” Petey snipes back nonplussed. 

“You’re an asshole,” Matthew grumbles without heat as he settles onto the couch in Petey’s large living area. 

Petey laughs as he perches on Marky’s lap where Marky had claimed a loveseat for himself.

“So?” Petey pushes, leaning forwards.

Matthew sighs, and well… he had been wanting to talk about this morning with someone anyways, “They wanted me to join their relationship.”

“McDavid and Draisaitl?” Petey asks, his eyes wide with shock, “What did you tell them?”

Matthew shrugs, his eyes trained on where he was fidgeting with the hem of his sweater, “I told them that I would think about it.”

“Well, what do you think then?” Marky asks, softly. Matthew looks up to meet a pair of earnest blue eyes and Matthew quickly looks away, overwhelmed.

Matthew shrugs helplessly, “I don’t know. I want to give it a try but…” Matthew trails off, chewing on his bottom lip.

“Does it have anything to do with what happened last night?” Marky prods, looking unsure of himself. It’s the first time that Matthew has ever seen Marky look so unsure. 

Matthew clams up. He doesn’t want to talk about this. He doesn’t want anyone else to know. “No, it’s nothing.”

There’s a long pause and finally, Matthew’s curiosity rears its head and he peeks up at the couple who seem to be communicating to each other non-verbally. 

Suddenly Marky nods and Petey gets up to let Marky stand. He walks towards Matthew and places a hand on his shoulder, “I’ll be upstairs. I’m going to hang with Quinn for a bit okay?”

Matthew is confused, but he nods and Marky leaves the room, leaving Matthew with Petey.

“I… Petey?” Matthew asks cautiously as he observes how Petey seems to be staring at nothing, lost in thought.

Petey blinks and his eyes focus in on Matthew and Petey’s eyes turn sad which puzzles Matthew further, “What’s wrong?”

“I should be the one asking you that,” Petey chuckles humorlessly as he makes his way to the open seat next to Matthew and sits.

“I’m okay,” Matthew tries to say.

“No you’re not,” Petey corrects and barrels on before Matthew can protest, “Look. I know you’ve already shut down. And that’s fine. You don’t have to talk. But I’m going to talk okay? And you’re going to listen. But first I want to let you know that I didn’t tell Marky about anything that I’m about to tell you. I promised Brady, Taryn, and Quinn to keep it to myself and I wouldn’t have made that decision for you.”

“What decision?” Matthew asks perplexed, but he has a feeling that he knows where this is going and he wants to hide. 

Petey answers Matthew’s question with his own, “Do you remember the conversation we had at All-Stars last year?”

Matthew nods.

“I don’t think you remembered, you were a bit more drunk than I was. But your phone rang when we were talking. You took a look at your phone on the table and you had a look of panic on your face. Panic and fear. It scared me. And you were quick to swipe your phone off the table and hide it, but I was still able to see that it was your dad calling you.” Petey explains.

Matthew’s blood runs cold, he didn’t remember this. Well, that’s wrong. He remembers his phone ringing but he hadn’t realized that his panic had been visible on his face. He’s usually pretty good at hiding that, but he guesses the alcohol had made him careless.

“And well, that look of fear on your face - I remembered it when I woke up the next morning. It was my only clear memory of the night before. I was curious, but I kept it to myself because it was none of my business and I didn’t know you. I honestly forgot about it until the off-season when Marky went all melodramatic and broke up with me because apparently that was the solution he came up with for me being angry that he didn’t even  _ tell _ me he was going to be resigning somewhere else. I had to find out from Tanev,  _ after _ he signed with you guys. But that’s besides the point,” Petey huffs. “Anyways. I was still in Vancouver during that time. My family was dealing with some stuff in Sweden and there wasn’t really any point in going back until later so I spent my time moping around the house after Marky broke up with me. Quinn got sick of watching me mope so he invited me to-”

“The barbeque his family has with mine in St. Louis every summer,” Matthew finishes in realization. Ever since Brady became friends with Quinn, his dad had decided to reconnect with Jim Hughes and had been inviting the Hughes family to their place in St. Louis for a weekend every off-season since. He had stopped going home for the summer by then and Brady had always been tight-lipped about the whole thing whenever Matthew had tried to ask about it.

“Yes,” Petey nodded, “The plan was for Quinn to go home with his family after and I would book tickets to Sweden from St. Louis since my family should be done dealing with their stuff by then. I also wanted to go because I wanted to meet you since you were going to be Marky’s new teammate and I needed to make sure you weren’t an asshole off the ice like you are on it. But you weren’t there.”

“What happened?” Matthew asks before he can stop himself. He feels numb and vaguely feels like he’s about to watch a trainwreck. 

Petey hesitates, before his shoulders slump. He doesn’t look Matthew in the eye and he’s wearing a tired expression that makes him look older than he is. He looks defeated.

“Your dad got drunk. And Quinn’s dad was asking after you because apparently he’s never seen you any of the times the Hughes come up to St. Louis and your dad lost it. It was really bad. Your dad said a lot of things that a father should never say about their son. Everybody was petrified until your mom came and dragged him away. I understood then, why you looked utterly terrified in the bar at that moment,” Petey whispers. 

Matthew closes his eyes as he feels his heart sink. He wonders if it was pity that drove Petey to be nice to him. Was the reason why Quinn was so worried about him earlier was because he thought Matthew was broken? 

“I’m telling you this because I wanted to tell you how horrified Quinn’s dad was over what your dad said about you. He gathered up his family and informed your mom that they were leaving and they wouldn’t be coming back next year. He even approached Brady and Taryn to tell them that if they needed somewhere to go that they would be welcome to stay with them in Florida, and to extend that offer to you.”

“I didn’t-” Matthew starts to ask before being cut off again. Brady and Taryn had never said anything about that.

“Your siblings know how much you want for nobody to know about your dad, Matthew. That’s why they never said anything. They didn’t want to upset you. They figured it would have been alright since you don’t come back to St. Louis anyways. I also wanted to know that you have support. Quinn and his family. Me. Your siblings. And I’m assuming McDavid and Draisaitl considering something had to set off that stress-induced drop.”

Matthew doesn’t even bother asking Petey how he knew about that. “I don’t need your pity.”

“You don’t,” Petey agrees easily, “And I’m not going to sit here and tell you what you need. I just wanted you to know that you have people in your corner and that they are always there if you need help. You’re not alone. I also wanted you to know that I think you should try with Draisaitl and McDavid. If the things that are holding you back are stuff that stems from your dad, well. I can say for certain that your dad’s words don’t mean anything. You deserve to be happy, Matthew. Please don’t let your dad ruin that for you.”

Matthew suddenly just feels exhausted, “I’ll think about it. You didn’t tell Marky?”

Petey shook his head, “Brady, Taryn, and Quinn swore me to silence. Besides, Marky’s your teammate and I don’t have the right to take that choice about whether you want Marky to know or not away from you. I shouldn’t have known either, despite my suspicions.”

Matthew doesn’t have time to reply because Quinn’s suddenly there, knocking on the side of the open entranceway where he hallway opens up to the living area.

“Petey, you should probably get your boys back to the hotel if you want them to meet curfew,” Quinn helpfully informs them, “Marky’s already by the door.”

“Thanks Quinn,” Petey grins, getting up from the couch, “Come on, Matty. Let’s go. I think that’s enough emotional talk for a lifetime.”

Matthew can’t help but giggle a bit at the exaggerated look of disgust on Petey’s face despite how wrung out he feels and he gets up to follow Petey.

He only stops when they pass by Quinn and Matthew lets Petey keep walking.

Matthew shuffles his feet awkwardly, “I’m sorry about ruining the barbeque-”

“Don’t be,” Quinn cuts him off, his tone soft. “That was nobody’s fault except for your dad. You’re always welcome to spend time with my family during off-season if you want to get away from Calgary.”

“I will think about it,” Matthew smiles weakly.

“Us, Subs. We gotta look out for each other, right?” Quinn grins, holding out his fist.

Matthew lifts his own fist and taps Quinn’s as he feels the tips of his mouth turn up into a more genuine smile, “Yeah. Of course.”

* * *

Matthew waits by the entrance of the hotel with his bag slung around his shoulders as he waits for Marky to say his goodbyes to Petey. He still doesn’t really know what to make of Petey’s mostly one-sided talk and he resolves not to think about it too much. He’s definitely not as freaked out as he was this morning. Maybe he feels a little indifferent after the first time he’s been told that people outside of his family know about his daddy issues. Or maybe he’s just tired. He’s pretty sure he’s going to pass out the moment he reaches his hotel room.

Marky is still talking to Petey and Matthew catches Petey’s eyes and he yawns dramatically. Petey laughs and he says something to Marky who snorts and they peck each other farewell before Marky makes his way to Matthew.

“Tired?” Marky asks with a small grin on his face.

“Very tired,” Matthew agrees, “Today was exhausting.”

Marky nods and tugs Matthew into his sides as they make their way to the counter to check in. He doesn’t ask Matthew about what Petey had wanted to talk to him about and Matthew’s grateful. It doesn’t take long until Matthew finds himself being deposited in front of his assigned room. He has to swipe his card the wrong way a couple of times before the door finally admits him. He shucks his bag by the door and only manages to get his shoes and jacket off before he reaches the bed. He’s asleep before his head even hits the mattress.


	4. Chapter 4

The next day, Matthew wakes up to somebody banging on the door. It’s Lindholm and Rittich, the both of them are all dressed and Ritters got a plate of food in his hand.

“What?” Matthew asks sleepily. He doesn’t recall his phone alarm going off.

“You weren’t at breakfast and we remembered you probably still don’t have a phone. Marky said you were really tired so we decided to let you sleep in. You have about half an hour. We also got you food.” Lindy explains with a grin.

Matthew stares at them blankly before he remembers the events from yesterday and he groans.

“I think I’ve had enough of people named Elias,” Matthew grumbles and tries to close the door on Lindy’s unwelcome face only for Lindy to laugh and shove his way into Matthew’s room.

“Come on. Don’t be like that. I’m your favourite Elias anyways.” Lindy grins, unfazed.

“Less annoying too,” Ritters pitches in, looking half asleep.

“You’re only saying that because you’re still not over the fact you let Petey get that shot past you,” Lindy says cheekily to Ritters who looks like he’s about a second away from strangling Lindy.

Matthew shakes his head. It’s too early and he still needs to pack. He leaves the two to their squabbling and heads into the washroom.

* * *

It doesn’t take very long for the coaches to come around to hustle the boys into the bus that takes them to the airport. Soon they’re on the flight to Las Vegas and Matthew finds himself sitting next to Lucic.

They’re sharing a set of earphones and watching something on the plane’s in-air entertainment system when Lucic takes his phone out to text somebody and Matthew looks over to see who he’s texting and he’s surprised when he recognizes the contact name.

Lucic’s texting Darnell Nurse. Matthew had totally forgotten that Lucic used to play for the Oilers. 

“You still talk to Nurse?” Matthew asks, curious.

Lucic shrugs, “We’re friends. Not as close as when I was on his team, but we text and grab drinks with each other when we can.”

Matthew hums in response, his mind wandering. He had stuck to his resolve about not thinking too much about Petey’s rant yesterday, but he keeps thinking about Petey’s words about not letting his dad’s words stop him from being happy. Maybe he has a point. Matthew still thinks it’s a bad idea and still feels a little inadequate, but he hasn’t stopped thinking about how Leon and Connor made him feel either. It couldn’t hurt to try, or at least test the waters.

Biting his lip, Matthew glances around them. The teammates around him are all either asleep or listening to music with their respective tech. None of them seem interested in Matthew’s and Lucic’s conversation.

Lucic must know something’s up because he pauses the movie and takes out his earbud. He’s watching Matthew as he waits him out.

“Could you tell me about Leon and Connor?” Matthew asks quietly.

Surprise flickers across Lucic’s face, “Drat and Davo? They’re a big part of the Oiler’s leadership pack. They’re good people. They always helped the players around them. I’m not too close to them. I mostly hung out with Khaira, Larsson, and Nurse. Why?”

Matthew sighs, that didn’t really tell him anything he didn’t already know. He slumps back into his seat, “They asked me out.”

Lucic’s silent before a soft ‘ _ oh’  _ escapes his lips, his eyes wide in realization.

“So that’s why Drat and Davo are suddenly interested in you,” Lucic says when he notices Matthew’s questioning look.

“They’ve been asking after me?” Matthew asks, surprised.

“Yeah. It was weird. I told them to knock it off.” Lucic shrugs, before he cocks his head to the side thoughtfully. “It makes sense though.”

“What makes sense?” Matthew asks, confusion clear in his voice. This making sense was the last thing Matthew would have thought Lucic would say.

Lucic shrugs before he starts to offer up more information, “When I joined the Oilers, Davo and Eichel were an item. Nobody really knows what happened to them, except maybe Drat. But the best we could figure out was that Eichel did something to Davo. He started pulling away from the team. He’s too professional to let it affect his ability on the ice, but he didn’t come out with us for drinks or, well, anything anymore. We were all pretty worried for him and Drat offered to check on him. I don’t know what Drat did, but Davo started to come out with us again and the next thing anyone really knew was that the two were in a relationship. But it wasn’t always happy.”

“It wasn’t?” Matthew parrots with a frown. 

“Yeah,” Lucic confirmed, there was a sad little smile on the older man’s face, “They thought they were being subtle, but it’s really hard to hide anything when you’re playing a team sport like hockey and in the locker rooms. They would get into fights a lot. Shouting matches. Sometimes during practice too. It was ugly. It took a long time for them to figure out how to work together.”

“That’s good,” Matthew says. He’s not sure what to think. It seems like Connor and Leon built something together. But he can’t help but wonder about where he fits into all of it.

Lucic catches the look on Matthew’s face and he reaches out to place a hand on Matthew’s knee, “What I am saying is that they weren’t compatible. Like they were so incompatible that a whole team of dumbass hockey players noticed. I think a third piece in their relationship would balance their dynamics out a lot.”

“So, they just see me as some tool?” Matthew asks, crestfallen. Before he can get too far on that train of thought, Lucic squeezes his knee and shakes his head.

“No. I know them. They wouldn’t ask you out if they didn't like you. They wouldn’t fuck with you like that. There are other people they could have asked that wouldn’t have a bunch of overprotective hockey players attached to them.” Lucic says, with a serious expression.

“Even you?” Matthew tries to joke, but it falls flat.

“Even me,” Lucic agrees.

The conversation tapers off and Lucic offers up the earbud that dislodged from Matthew’s ear sometime during the talk and Lucic unpauses the movie as he places his earbud back into his own ear.

* * *

The hotel strip in Vegas is loud and bright as it always is. They get themselves checked in at the Paris themed hotel that their management had set up for them. They have the rest of the day off. 

Matthew is in his room that he’s sharing with Monny when somebody knocks on his door. It’s definitely not Monny since he’s out with the rest of the team to explore the strip. Matthew had wanted to hit the gym and work out for a bit so he had declined. 

“Johnny?” Matthew asks when he opens the door, “I thought you went out with the rest of the boys.”

“I… I was going to but then Monny said that you weren’t coming. I- uh. I wanted to talk.” Johnny says as he shuffles his feet. He looks uncharacteristically small and nervous.

It makes Matthew feel concerned for his friend but he also feels a little guarded considering the last time somebody had told him they wanted to talk, it was to bring up his dad. Petey assured him that he hadn’t told Marky and Johnny isn’t that close to Brady as far as Matthew knows, so the possibility that Johnny knows anything about his dad seems rather unlikely.

“Sure. I’m about to go work out in the hotel’s gym. Meet me at my door in twenty?” Matthew offers.

“Sure,” Johnny agrees quickly, perking up, “I’ll go get changed.”

* * *

The gym room is relatively empty. There is a middle-aged man running on the treadmill, so Johnny and Matthew take the crappy yoga mats in the corner and start to stretch.

“We are friends right?” Johnny asks suddenly and Matthew nearly topples out of position at the suddenness of the question.

“Of course we are,” Matthew looks at Johnny who looks a little bit like a kicked puppy, “Best friends. Is.. something wrong?”

“It’s just…” Johnny looks uncertain before he sighs, “We don’t talk a lot or hang out as much. Like you didn’t tell me about Marky or Pettersson until weeks after the fact and stuff.”

Matthew frowns as he gets up to go use the weight contraption next to the mats. He doesn’t bother changing the setting and starts to push on the handles. Johnny is still on the yoga mat, doing some light yoga poses.

“Dude, that’s not my fault. You disappeared after you had me come pick you up from that fucking club in the off-season. You dropped off the face of the planet. Even during training camp. As soon as all the practice and testing stuff was over, you’d bolt. I couldn’t fucking reach you.” Matthew argued, and then a thought occurs to him as he sets the machine to a heavier weight, “Besides. You didn’t tell me about Yamamoto and Nugent-Hopkins either. Since when did you guys even talk?”

There is a wince on Johnny’s face but he doesn’t dispute Matthew’s argument, “That’s… true. I’m sorry. I don’t have a right to complain. I just… miss you.”

It wasn’t lost on Matthew how Johnny avoided Matthew’s question about his sudden friendship with the two Oilers, but he let it go. 

“I missed you too,” Matthew admits before he offers an olive branch, “You wanna play some Mario Kart after? I brought my Switch.”

“Sure,” Johnny says, a happy and relieved look in his eyes, “I think Monny said that he was gonna pick us up for dinner at around five.”

“Sounds good,” Matthew agrees.

* * *

It’s fun, hanging out with Johnny in Matthew’s room after they both showered and cleaned up from their shower. It was like nothing changed between them as they laughed and tried their best to distract each other.

True to Monny’s word, the entire team swings by the hotel to pick them both up and Johnny sticks close to Matthew’s side as he gets pulled into an argument with Noah and Backy about what tattoo Backy should get while they’re in Vegas.

It’s only after dinner that the team starts breaking up into smaller groups, Johnny wants to go to some show that Brodie had been gushing about ever since the Leafs played the Knights some weeks back. Matthew gives an apologetic smile and tells Johnny he would make it up to him tomorrow. Catching Johnny’s disappointed look, Matthew tells him that he wants to catch up with Brady and Taryn and Johnny brightens up.

“Tell Brady I said hi, yea? We have to play League together again when we get home,” Johnny says with a genuine smile.

Matthew laughs as he agrees before Noah comes by to drag Johnny away while loudly bidding Matthew good night and chirping Gio and Looch for being old and no fun all in one breath. 

Lucic is talking to Marky about who knows what so Matthew finds himself walking next to Gio. They fall into a comfortable silence as they walk past loud tourists and some people in suits as they walk down the Vegas strip.

“How are you?” Gio asks, giving Matthew a look of concern.

Matthew shrugs, “I’m good.”

“You sure?” Gio looks skeptical, “I thought you would have wanted to join the others for that show.”

“I can always come watch it next time. I was hoping to borrow your phone actually. I wanted to call Brady and Tar- okay maybe not Taryn. I think she has a midterm or something she said she had to study for,” Matthew says, stepping to the side to avoid bumping into a teenager whose eyes seemed to be glued to their phone.

“You can borrow my phone if you want?” Gio offers.

Matthew shakes his head, “I know you call your wife every night, I don’t want to take up your time with her.”

Gio’s about to open his mouth to protest when Lucic’s voice cuts in. Matthew hadn’t noticed but they had apparently caught up to the other two who were quietly listening into their conversation.

“It’s okay, Gio. Matty can use my phone. I don’t have anyone to call,” Lucic says.

“You sure?” Matthew asks, uncertain.

Lucic shrugs, “My parents aren’t expecting me to call until tomorrow anyways.”

“Alright,” Matthew nods.

They spend the rest of the walk back to the hotel talking about their next game with the Knights and exactly how many more games they need to win for them to be in a comfortable place in the standings that they would no longer have to worry about their playoff spot.

* * *

It doesn’t take long for Matthew to find himself sitting on the bed staring at Lucic’s phone. Matthew sighs before he flops back on the bed and taps the call button beside Brady’s newly added name on Facetime.

“Matty!” Brady practically screams through the phone.

“Hey Brady,” Matthew smiles before he notices the worried look on Brady’s face, “What’s up with you?”

“What do you think? You said that you were okay and that Draisaitl broke your phone. What the fuck? Did you guys get into a fight off the ice or something?” Brady asks.

“Nope,” Matthew snorts. He kind of wishes that picking a fight with Leon was what happened, it would be easier Matthew thinks.

“So what happened?” Brady asks, narrowing his eyes at Matthew. “Also Taryn’s gonna be mad that she’s missing this.”

“She’s got midterm to be studying for,” Matthew shrugs, “Besides, you’re going to tell her everything the moment she’s done tomorrow.”

“Uh huh. So spill,” Brady demands.

Matthew shuts his eyes. He knew this was coming. He wants to avoid talking about his dad for a day, at least. Maybe this is his punishment for avoiding the topic of his dad for the past years. 

“Matthew, don’t you dare fall asleep-” Brady starts to squawk when Matthew’s silent for a little too long but Matthew cuts his brother off.

“They found out about Dad,” Matthew says, he’s a little proud that his voice didn’t shake.

“They? Who else was there besides Draisaitl?” Brady asks, his face quickly morphing from annoyed to confusion.

“Davo,” Matthew answers, trying to keep his face in check.

“How-” Brady starts to ask before he stops, “Dad called didn’t he? Oh my God, Matty. I thought you never picked up those calls. And Draisaitl made you go into a drop on-ice. Dad must have lost his mind. I’m going to kill the old geezer.”

“No. You’re not going to kill him,” Matthew corrects his brother mildly.

Brady huffs, but he agrees, “I’m not. I want to though. Matty, you have to know that he’s just full of shit right? None of the crap he says is even remotely right.”

“He’s right about you and Taryn though. You’re all amazing and-” Matthew rebuts, repeating the words he had bitterly said to the Oilers in Edmonton.

“Matty, please. Stop. I fucking hate that Dad uses me and Taryn as a weapon against you. Sure, we’re great and all, but you are just as amazing as us. If you ask me, Dad’s just jealous that you’re a damned good hockey player and a Sub. In his head, you can’t be both, so he’s just trying his hardest to make you conform to his stupid out-dated ideas,” Brady rant. “Besides. What was that thing he always says? Doms are always right, or some shit? You and I both know that that’s a load of bull.”

Matthew’s silent. This isn’t the first time that Brady or Taryn have told him this, and while he is grateful for the words, they do nothing to loosen the tight knot in his chest. 

Brady can tell he’s not getting through to Matthew and he heaves a sigh of defeat, “Alright. Draisaitl and Davo. What happened?"

"I was pretty deep into a stress-induced drop when they found me," Matthew says as he looks away, flipping the phone into his stomach so that Brady's looking up at the plain white ceiling of his hotel room.

"Shit," Brady replies in a worried tone. Matthew can hear a noise that sounds like Brady running his hand through his hair. 

Brady needs a haircut, Matthew idly thinks.

"I knew something happened," Brady comments, "I got Marns to give me Brodie's number. Nobody knows what happened exactly though. You should probably give them a call later, they're worried sick. Did Draisaitl and Davo take you to a hospital?"

Matthew shakes his head before he remembers that Brady can't see him.

"They didn't. They took me to their place and took care of me," Matthew says, he feels a little floaty now that he says it out loud. He then realizes something.

"Also," Matthew says quickly, before Brady could respond, "Do you remember anything from school, when the health class teachers talked about compatibility between Doms and Subs?"

"I… yes? I think I remember it. I had Ms. Jenkins. Is this about Draisaitl? Are you compatible with him?" Brady's perplexed voice floats through the air.

Matthew ignores the question, busy chasing his train of thought, "Wasn't one of the common signs of compatibility was feeling a draw to the person?"

A second passes and Matthew picks up the phone again to see Brady nodding slowly, "Ms. Jenkins didn't talk a lot about it. She didn't really explain, but yes. She said something along those lines. It's a very strong indicator."

Matthew hums, deep in thought. He knows he is compatible with Leon, that wasn't the issue. But he hadn't been sure about Connor. Until now. Experimenting, Matthew brings back the image of Leon and Connor smiling at him in their kitchen that he hadn't been able to stop thinking about and he focuses on Connor's face. He feels the same pull towards him as he felt towards Leon. Did Connor feel this too? Did Leon?

"Matthew?" Brady calls, bringing Matthew back to the present.

"Leon and Connor asked me to join their relationship," Matthew says suddenly, feeling a lot more confident about things than he had before.

It's a little hard, but Matthew managed to keep from laughing in Brady's face as Brady gapes like a fish through his screen.

"You're compatible with both of them?" Brady guesses when he finally recovers.

Matthew nods, he's fairly certain that he's blushing.

"Did you say yes?"

"I told them I'd think about it," Matthew admits.

"Okay, but you are going to say yes right? You are compatible with them and I know you like them. Your face is all red," Brady asks, giving Matthew the look he always gives when he thinks Matthew is being particularly obtuse.

“I don’t know. I want to try. So... yes?” Matthew says uncertainty. Well, he isn’t completely tossing the idea whenever he thinks about it like he had when Leon had first asked him.

“How were they? I mean… You’ve always told me and T that Draisaitl hated you. Obviously, that doesn’t seem to be the case now. Did they treat you well?” Brady asks softly.

“They were nice. I want to get to know them,” Matthew says before he hesitates, chewing on his lips. He wishes he had remembered to buy some gum from a drugstore earlier. “I’m scared,” he admits.

“About?” Brady pushes.

“What if they get to know me and they think I’m a disappointment? What if I get in between Connor and Leon? Like what if I fuck things up,” Matthew speaks, airing out his worries, “Lucic says that their relationship isn’t a compatible one. What if I screw things up for them?”

There is a pause as Brady thinks. Finally, he speaks, “You won’t be a disappointment. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. Besides, didn’t you tell me years ago that McDavid is one of the nicest people you’ve met? And you won’t screw things up for them. If something happens it wouldn’t be because of you.”

“It wouldn’t?” Matthew furrows his eyebrow.

“Yeah. If they break apart, it would be some pre-existing issue. Like, they would have broken up eventually even if you didn’t get involved,” Brady shrugs, “Go for it, Matty. You deserve to be happy.”

Matthew hums, lost in thought, “I’ll think about it. Also why didn't you tell me about the barbeque thing?"

"Petey told you about that?" Brady looks a little disgruntled before he shakes his head. "We didn't want to worry you."

Matthew sighs and offers Brady a small grateful smile. As much as Brady and Taryn won't admit it in words, Matthew knows that they're trying their best to shield him from the family drama.

Changing gears, Matthew asks, "What happened to that rookie of yours?”

“Oh! He’s looking a lot better! I talked to Nilsson and…” Brady waves his arms excitedly, dropping his own phone and Matthew smiles.

* * *

It’s a couple of minutes after Matthew hung up the phone and Matthew’s debating whether or not he should lie in his bed a little more or go to Lucic’s room to return his phone when he remembers to text Matts and Marns. The Leafs had won their game against the Pens, according to Brady. It should be quite late in Pittsburgh. They should be back in their hotels by now, Matthew thinks. Probably.

He scrolls through Lucic’s messaging app and finds Matts’ contact. It’s pretty barebones, there isn’t much there aside from some boring conversation about some event they were both going to be at for some charity or other years ago. 

‘Hey asshole’, Matthew types. He wonders how long it would take for Matts to realize it isn’t actually Lucic behind the screen.

The reply is instantaneous.

_ Wtf. _

_ Wht did i do to u? _

_ Wait. Matty? _

Matthew’s eyebrow shoots up to the top of his forehead. 

‘How did you know?’ Matthew shoots back, a little peeved that his plan to mess with Matts was foiled so quickly. To be fair, Matthew considers, it would have been a little strange to have some acquaintance from some rival team that you never talk to call you an asshole out of the blue like that.

_ Their’s only one jerk on Looch’s team that calls me an asshol _

_ You’re the only mean one _

Matthew snorts, ‘Lies. Also since when do u type this horribly’. 

_ I’m not as bad as Mitchie. Nothing beats the gibberish he puts out _

‘At this point, I think it’s on purpose. His drunk texts are better than his normal texts ffs.’ Matthew grins as he taps send. It’s true. Marns had once drunkenly sent an angry, perfectly written, rant about Matts pedo-stache to Kaner that Marns had claimed to have meant to send to Kapanen. Kaner had apparently found it hilarious and had shared the screenshot of that to … somebody who had also passed it on until everybody in the NHL had seen that text.

_ Fk you. Don’t remind me, that stache was glorious _

‘No it’s not. omfg it was fking ugly’

_ u’re ugly _

‘and this is why u’re the asshole’ 

‘also let Marns know I’m okay, okay? Brady said that you guys were worried sick about me’

_ will do. I’ll give Draisaitl a hard time the next time the Leafs play them _

Matthew hesitates. He knows that Matts and Marns would keep it a secret if he asked them to, but he doesn’t want to risk it. So he lets it go and he taps out of the app. He’s about to get up to find Lucic when the phone buzzes again and Matthew can’t help himself. He peeks at the notification.

_ Ex-Cap, Drat _

_ Ex-Cap: Hey Lucic. Is Chucky okay? _

Matthew freezes, staring at Lucic’s phone. Another text comes in.

_ Drat: Davo please _

_ Drat: Looch already said Matthew looked fine… _

The message gets cut off because it’s too long to fit the small notification window. Recovering, Matthew taps the notification and Lucic’s phone sends him back into the messaging app, except this time a group chat that Matthew hadn’t noticed earlier appears.

_ Drat: Looch already said Matthew looked fine. Looch probably thinks we’re trying to stalk him now. _

_ Ex-Cap: I’m just worried _

Matthew hesitates.

_ Drat: … ok. Looch, could you pass your phone to Matthew? _

Well. That’s an invitation if Matthew’s ever seen one. So he lets go of any reservations and answers, trying not to overthink.

‘Hi’

_ Ex-Cap: Chucky!!!! Are you okay? _

‘I’m okay’

Matthew pauses to sit back down on the bed.

‘Why were you so worried?’

_ Drat: Connor worries about everything _

_ Ex-Cap: Because I care about you. I wanted to make sure you were okay after that drop. I read that there could be some after-effects of stress-induced drops _

_ Ex-Cap: Excuse you, I do not  _

_ Drat: Nuge twisted his ankle and you acted like he was dying from the flu _

_ Ex-Cap: I did not _

_ Drat: You gave him chicken noodle soup. Yammers looked like he was going shit himself laughing _

_ Ex-Cap: I was trying to be a good captain :( _

Matthew bursts out into giggles and he types out ‘Aww. This is so precious’

_ Drat: He’s adorable, right? _

‘100%’

_ Ex-Cap: …. This was a bad idea. _

Matthew’s heart drops to his stomach as he reads that line, but before he can even spiral, Lucic’s phone is buzzing.

Without thinking, Matthew taps the green button.

“Matty. I didn’t mean that. I was joking,” Connor’s panicked voice comes through the phone.

There is a muffled voice that sounds like Leon talking in the background that Connor seems to be resolutely ignoring.

“Were you?” Matthew challenges, praying that his voice doesn’t break. Not that it’s any use. He’s never been any good at hiding his emotions when it was about his insecurities.

“I was. You are not a mistake, Matty,” Connor says with such conviction that the knot in Matthew’s throat loosens.

“But what if I screw up?” Matthew asks, words leaving his mouth without permission.

“Leon and I aren’t asking for perfection. We aren’t perfect either. We are just asking you to try and give us a chance. Matty, I’m scared too. I screw up all the time with Leon too. I-” Connor lets out a yelp the same time Matthew hears a muffled thump through the phone. Leon must have thrown a pillow at Connor. “ _ Ow okay. Jesus Leon -  _ We want to be good to you. And yes, Leon fucks up too. Notably when-”

“Sorry,” Leon’s voice comes through the phone, all too cheerful, “Connor.exe has stopped working.”

“Is he okay?” Matthew asks, a little worried. He’s fighting the grin that threatens to take over his face.

“He’s fine,” Leon says way too quickly, “He’s just surprised.”

There is a pause, “Okay. I think I might have broken him.”

“What did you do?” Matthew asks, giving up. There is a large grin plastered on his face now. He sort of feels like a lunatic.

“I dumped my glass of water over his head,” Leon whispers as if he’s divulging a secret, “He’s sitting there with his eyes wide open. I don’t think he’s blinked yet. He looks like he can’t even believe I did that.”

“Connor is going to  _ kill _ you,” Matthew snickers.

Leon sniffs, “Oh _ please.  _ This is payback.”

Matthew laughs.

“Anyways,” Leon continues on a little more quickly, “Listen. Everything Connor said? It’s true okay? We aren’t perfect, nor are we looking for perfection. We are all going to fuck up in some extraordinary fashion in one point or another in this relationship, so don’t worry about that okay? Anyways I got to go. Connor is looking more homicidal by the second here.”

“Good luck,” Matthew says, giggling, “Don’t let Connor kill you. I like your face.”

Leon laughs and Matthew feels warmth spread through his being, “I like your face too. Good night Matthew.”

Leon hangs up, but not before Matthew can hear Connor shout, “LEON YOU-”

Matthew barks another laugh out and flops back onto his bed, feeling lighter than ever. Connor and Leon are also terrified of screwing up. Matthew’s not alone. Maybe. Maybe everything will be alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I was late for a couple of hours. I finished writing this part today and had to proofread and get this Beta'd by my sibling
> 
> Also Matts Pedo-stache really needs to go please ;_;
> 
> I will not be updating this fic next week. My finals are coming up so I will be busy. I'll be back on the 21st with an update :)
> 
> Please leave a review, they really do mean a lot. <3


	5. Chapter 5

Matthew wakes up to the annoying sound of Monny’s phone alarm. He groans.

“Turn it off,” Matthew complains, turning over to shove his face into the mountain of pillows around him.

Monny laughs. “Come on. The sun’s up. We have morning skate at the facility anyways.”

Matthew makes a loud snoring sound even though he feels himself waking up as light filters into the room after Monny opens the curtains. He can also hear the laughter of his teammate and he secretly smiles into his blankets.

* * *

Monny and Matthew eventually find themselves in the small breakfast room that the hotel had set aside for their team for privacy. Matthew is listening to the boys around him talk about the show from last night while eating a bite out of his waffles when Lucic taps his shoulder.

“You done soon?” Lucic asks when Matthew turns to him.

“Um. Yea. Let me finish up,” Matthew replies with a confused look on his face.

Lucic nods, “I’ll wait outside. Be quick.”

Matthew watches Lucic leave the room before he could say anything.

Johnny nudges him gently and Matthew shrugs at his raised eyebrow, “I have no idea either, man.”

“Alright. Wanna grab lunch after practice?” Johnny asks.

Matthew smiles, “Sure.”

* * *

It doesn’t take very long for Matthew to finish up his oatmeal and he grabs an apple on his way out of the small breakfast room. He finds Lucic leaning against the wall, furiously texting on his phone. Matthew can sense the irritation coming off his teammate in waves.

“Looch? Is something wrong?” Matthew asks, stepping closer to his friend and teammate, “Is someone bothering you?”

Lucic looks up from his phone, blinking in surprise. “What? Oh. No. Nothing like that. Just former teammates being assholes. Come on. We have to take a detour before practice. I already told one of the coaches that we are going to be late.”

“You did?” Matthew asked, furrowing his brow in confusion.

“Yeah,” Lucic shrugs as he leads them out of the hotel. It doesn’t take long for Lucic to call an Uber and he rattles an address off to a young brunette lady who looks to be about Taryn’s age. 

Lucic continues to pick up a conversation with the girl as Matthew climbs into the backseat and Matthew doesn’t want to interrupt them so he keeps his silence as they pull out into traffic.

He doesn’t have to wait too long because 3 minutes later, the girl turns away from the strip and they’re suddenly in front of a post office. Matthew waits for Lucic to finish paying the girl before he asks the question he’s been dying to ask.

“What’s so important that this couldn’t wait until after practice?” Matthew asked.

“It could’ve waited until after practice,” Lucic grumbles, “But McDavid and Draisaitl were being annoying.”

“Huh?” Matthew replies intelligently as Lucic drags them into the post office.

There’s only a couple of people waiting in line at the counter and it doesn’t take long before the bored looking man manning the counter greets them. Matthew thinks he might be Spanish.

“Good morning. How can I help you today?” the man asks. 

“Good morning. I believe there is a package here, for Matthew Tkachuk?” Lucic inquires.

“Tkachuk? What? Oh my God, you guys are here for the game tonight. My partner is never going to believe me. I’m sorry, I don’t know your name,” the worker apologizes to Lucic before turning to Matthew “ID please.” 

Blessedly, they are the only ones in the Post office and there is nobody around to overhear.

“It’s okay,” Lucic smiles, “I am Milan Lucic.”

The worker eyes the driver’s license that Matthew fishes out of his wallet carefully. Satisfied the man returns the card and scurries to the back before promptly returning with a small package tucked under his arm.

“Lucic, huh?” the worker asks, “I thought you played for Boston. My name is Jason, by the way.”

Lucic laughs, “I haven’t been with Boston for years now, where have you been?”

Jason chuckles, pink dusting his cheeks, “I don’t follow hockey, to be honest. I’m more of a soccer person, but my partner is an avid fan of the NHL. He loves the Knights. He’s going to be so jealous when I tell him I met you guys, even if he hates your guts.”

Jason gives Matthew an apologetic look and Matthew knows that Jason is mostly talking about him. 

Matthew shrugs and gives Jason a wry grin, “People love to hate me.”

“Nah. They hate the jersey more than anything,” Jason bats the comment away without a second thought. “You could be the nicest person in the room and there would still be people who’d hate you just because of the team you play for. Look at Perry. My partner finds it both hilarious and ironic that the Stars’ fans went from hating that guy’s guts to reluctant acceptance to cheering him on.”

Matthew blinks, momentarily stunned and Lucic casts Matthew a look but doesn’t say anything. Suddenly the front door opens again to admit an elderly woman and Jason seems to realize that he’s still working.

“I’m so sorry. You guys are probably busy and I didn’t mean to take up so much of your time. I get so bored at this job, I get carried away.” Jason blurts.

“It’s okay,” Lucic smiles brightly, “Why don’t you give us your number? We would love to grab dinner with your partner the next time we’re in Vegas.”

Jason blinks, dumbfounded. “I… Yes. Of course.”

Quickly, Jason grabs a piece of scrap paper and scribbles what Matthew can make out as a sequence of numbers and a short note at the bottom. Ripping off the section of the paper, Jason passes it to Lucic and bids them a good day before turning his attention to the elderly woman behind them.

* * *

True to Lucic’s word, they end up getting to the practice facility late and the coaches don’t blink an eye even though their teammates shoot them curious looks. They run their drills and talk strategy for tonight’s game. The coaches are talking about switching up the lines for tonight’s game when Johnny skates up to Matthew.

“Where did Lucic take you?” Johnny asks.

“The post office,” Matthew replies, distractedly. He’s sticking his tongue out as he bats the puck around with his stick, trying to work on his stick-handling abilities. Having grown up playing hockey, this should be an easy exercise for him, but for some reason the puck doesn’t seem to want to cooperate with him today.

“Post office?” Johnny parrots, a look of confusion crossing his face, “What for?”

Giving up, Matthew smacks the puck away in disgust before turning his attention to Johnny. “Apparently Leon and Connor sent me something and hassled Looch into taking me to pick it up.”

“Leon and Connor,” Johnny echoes under his breath, a weird look on his face.

“You okay?” Matthew asks, looking concerned. “I mean I know we are rivals and all, but that’s just hockey shit. Connor’s a good person off the ice.”

“I’m not talking about Connor. It’s Draisaitl that I don’t like,” Johnny rebutts.

“Why?” Matthew furrows his brows in confusion. He had thought Johnny’s antagonism against the two Oilers was because of the whole rivalry thing, but if he’s fine with Connor then Matthew doesn’t really know what Johnny has against Leon.

“He dommed you on the ice and took you out of the game,” Johnny scowls, “Nobody does that.”

“It was an accident,” Matthew protests. It’s not like Matthew hadn’t considered that, but he’s already made up his mind to try and he’s sticking to it. Besides, Matthew figured, Connor would never be with a Dom who would take advantage of him, and Matthew trusts Connor.

Johnny makes a frustrated noise and makes an attempt to run his fingers through his hair. An attempt because of all the hockey gear that Johnny apparently forgets that he’s wearing prevents him from doing just that.

“I’m sorry. I should be supportive. But I’m worried that he’s going to take advantage of you, you know? I just want you to be happy,” Johnny says, deflating.

Matthew doesn’t get to say anything because the coaches call them to huddle next to the bench, game plans in hand. 

* * *

Johnny doesn’t bring up Leon and Connor again after they finally finish with practice an hour and a half later and they spend their lunch gossiping and guessing who will be at the All-Stars weekend that’s coming up. It’s fun and Matthew splits ways with Johnny after they get off the elevator on their floor with a smile on his face.

It’s when he’s supposed to take his afternoon nap before the game when Matthew finds himself taking out the small package that Lucic had dragged him to the Post office to get. 

He settles on the bed with his blankets wrapped around his legs and gingerly places the package on his knees. He takes a look at Monny’s bed to find him safely snoring away, having already been asleep when Matthew had arrived back to their room.

Taking a steadying breath, Matthew tries to calm himself down. The package feels a little bit like a courting gift, but that tradition is an old one that no one really follows anymore. 

Sighing, Matthew shakes his head and starts to pick away at the tape on the box. It takes a minute, but he manages to wrestle the box open and Matthew places the ball of tape on the bedside table. There is a piece of folded paper on top of a small parcel that’s been covered with a bubble wrap.

Matthew picks the paper up and gently unfolds it. He squints at it before promptly giving up and reluctantly clicking open the light next to his bed. He glances at Monny again who doesn’t seem to be bothered before turning his attention to the letter.

_ Hey Matty, _

_ It occurred to me before the Oiler’s game with the Canucks that it would be really inconvenient to ask you to wait for so long for a new phone. So Leon and I went to the nearest electronic shop and bought you a new one before the game. The game is finished now though, and I’m writing this at the Post Office. Leon’s waiting in the Uber so he doesn’t know I’m writing this. But I hope you like your new phone.  _

_ You also have some rather terrifying friends. Pettersson and Hughes were giving us a tough time. They are also very creative in their threats. Is this something Leon and I have to look out for? It’s not a bad thing though. I am happy that you have so many people in your corner. _

_ Leon and I are looking forward to seeing you again in Tampa soon. _

_ Yours, _ _   
_ _ Connor McDavid _

_ PS: I kept your SIM card from when Leon destroyed your old phone. I had the tech guy at the store open your new phone to put it in. _

_ PPS: I’m sorry. I tried to stop Leon, but I’m pretty sure he did it behind my back anyways. _

Matthew frowns as he reads the last line of Connor’s scrawl. He wonders what Leon did to make Connor feel the need to apologize to him. But he can’t help but snort a little. He’d forgotten that the Oilers had played the Canucks yesterday. He should have known that Petey would have cornered Leon and Connor. Quinn was a bit surprising, but the more Matthew thought about it, the less surprising it seemed. 

Shaking his head, Matthew folds up the paper and carefully places it on the table, next to the wad up ball of tape.

Matthew then takes out the parcel and unwraps the bubble wrap, placing the garbage back into the delivery box and quietly placing it on the floor. The phone is the newest iPhone model that came out a couple of days ago. Matthew’s more of an android person, but he doesn’t really care too much about what brand his phone is as long as it works. Connor must have spent a lot of money to buy it and have Canada Post deliver it overnight. Although Matthew found it amazing that it even made it to Las Vegas so quickly, government postal services tend to be perpetually delayed no matter where you are. 

Soon, Matthew has the phone in his hands, complete with a screen protector and a red case. He takes a quick look at the clock next to his bed.

_ 15:28 _

Matthew figures he can screw around for another half hour and get in a 2 hour power nap before he’s forced to wake up for the game, so he clicks the power button to find the phone already set up and ready to go which Matthew raises an eyebrow at but doesn’t really question it.

He unlocks his phone and quickly turns the phone on mute when notifications immediately start to go off. He peeks at the lump that is Monny over on the other bed who seems to have no reaction before he takes a moment to familiarize himself with the layout of his new phone. He taps into his contacts to find that all his saved contacts are blessedly still there. It would have been a pain to gather up all the phone numbers again.

There are also a bunch of texts waiting for him as well. Mostly from Taryn, but Matthew already knows what it’s about. Brady must have told her everything. He ignores it for now, resolving to read through it after the game tonight. Instead his eyes catch sight of two new text threads. One is a new group chat that seems to be made up of Davo and an unknown contact that Matthew is willing to guess is Leon. The other is a private chat with that same unknown number.

Making a quick decision, Matthew taps on the private chat.

_ Unknown: hey Matthew _

_ Unknown: It’s Leon _

_ Unknown: I know Connor wrote a note to you in the Post office. He’s never been able to keep a secret. So I’m like 99.9% sure that he mentioned something in that note.  _

_ Unknown: It was because I wanted to block your dad’s contact from your phone. Connor told me it wasn’t my decision. We had an argument about it. Idiot didn’t realize that I couldn’t have done anything about it even if I wanted to. I don’t know your password. He didn’t realize until I told him as much after he admitted to writing that note.  _

_ Unknown: Still alive. We ended up having a tickle war (I won even if Connor doesn’t agree). I wasn’t lying about dumping the water over Connor’s head being payback - he dumped a bucket of cold water over my head the other day because he wouldn’t let me sleep for five more minutes.  _

_ Unknown: I also did it because I knew he felt guilty for essentially throwing me under the bus even though I didn’t actually do anything. Connor tends to think too much about everything so I wanted to distract him. I’d like to thank you for helping _

_ Unknown: I wanted to let you know what happened. I know you haven’t agreed to be with us, but I wanted you to get to know us. I know we won’t see each other a lot for the rest of the season. I wanted you to know that we will always try to communicate with you. We don’t ever want to make you feel like you’ve been left out. _

Matthew chews on his lips as he reads through Leon’s texts again. He has mixed feelings about it. It’s nice to feel included but he also agrees with Connor. He would have been angry had Leon managed to somehow block his father’s contact without consulting it with him. He doesn’t need to be micromanaged. Leon’s not the first person to tell him that he would be happier if he cut off all contact with his dad. They’re probably right, Matthew reflects, but he can’t bring himself to.

He should probably let it go and say something generic, but he’s also curious so he types.

‘Why did you want to block my dad’s number from my phone?’ 

Matthew waits a second, suddenly unreasonably anxious, before he lets out a sigh and digs out the charger from the box and reaches over to plug it into one of the outlets beside the bed.

He’s just connected the wire to the phone when his phone buzzes.

_ Unknown: Matthew. A phone call with your dad had you rocket into a stress drop _

_ Unknown: Connor might have been the one freaking out, but you scared me too _

_ Unknown: I… I don’t want you to ever have to go through that again _

Matthew sighs and drops his head back on the headboard of the hotel bed with a soft thunk.

His life would be so much easier if he just blocks his father’s contact, he concedes. Except, he can’t bring himself to do it. Not for the first time, he wishes that his father was always an asshole to him. It would be so much easier to leave his father behind if he didn’t love him. 

His dad was his idol growing up. His dad taught him almost everything he knows now, even if he had had to unlearn some of those lessons as a young adult with the help of Brady and Taryn.

The bitter texts and angry phone calls is the only connection Matthew has left with his father. Getting rid of it seems too final, that he would regret it if he went through with it. Not to mention the helpless feeling of hope that he still carries in his heart.

Sighing, Matthew brings his phone up to his face and he procrastinates a little on responding to Leon by adding his number into his contacts. He pauses a little after he types out ‘Draisaitl’. It feels too impersonal. Scrunching up his nose, Matthew aggressively spams the backspace button and types in ‘Drat’. It’s Leon’s on-ice nickname… that everybody uses. Disgusted, Matthew nixes it and types in ‘Leon’. 

Saving the contact, Matthew goes back to the text thread and he quickly types out a half-hearted ‘I’ll think about it’ before dumping the phone onto the bedside table along with everything else before clicking the light closed to settle in for his nap.

* * *

Matthew smiles and laughs after the final horn sounds. He joins the mob of white sweaters surrounding their goalie, who doesn’t seem to mind being smushed in the middle. It was supposed to be Rittich’s turn to play goalie today but Marky had begged the coaches to play against the Knights tonight until they finally relented. 

It’s when everybody finally starts to make their way off the ice when Matthew finally catches sight of the smug and satisfied expression on Marky’s face. It’s well deserved. It was a shutout game with Marky pulling some unreal moves to keep the puck out of his crease. It was probably the only reason they had won today considering the only goal today was a fluke goal past Lehner by Tanev.

Matthew catches up to Marky and knocks shoulders with him, “You’re still mad about the playoffs last year, aren’t you?”

Marky scrunches up his nose, “I still believe that Vancouver should have won that series. Demko deserved it at the very least.”

“I watched that game,” Matthew admits, “Demko definitely deserved a W in that game. He was easily the best player in your series.”

“The kid’s gonna go far,” Marky agrees as they step into the locker room, “You coming out with us tonight?”

“Hell yeah,” Matthew grins.

* * *

“So. Leon and Connor, eh?” Matthew is greeted by Monny’s slightly suspicious tone as he enters their shared room. Matthew had been held up, deep into a conversation with Rittich, Lindholm, and Johnny.

“What?” Matthew asks as he shuts the door behind him. He knows by the smile on Monny’s face that his friend isn’t angry.Monny waves the letter in his hand, “I found this on the floor and I picked it up. What’s the deal with them? Should I be worried?”

Matthew shakes his head as he kicks off his shoes and sits on the bed. He doesn’t plan on having the whole Leon and Connor thing be a secret, but he isn’t exactly advertising it either. He looks up at Monny’s eyes who seemed to have taken on a worried look at Matthew’s silence.

“They asked me to join their relationship,” Matthew shrugs, “I’m thinking of saying yes. I…” Matthew hesitates before he admits, “I like them.”

Monny frowns. It’s clear that he’s thinking, trying to work something out in his head. It doesn’t take long for Matthew to look away and start to fidget with the hem of his sweater. He isn’t sure what to make of Monny’s silence and it makes Matthew’s anxiety act up.

Suddenly he feels Monny’s hand clamp down on his shoulder and he looks up into Monny’s warm brown eyes, “Hey. Look. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you nervous. I just don’t understand polyamory relationships. I’ve always been a one and done kinda guy. But I’ve decided that it’s much more important to me that you’re happy than me having to understand shit.”

Matthew blinks up at Monny, gaping. Monny misreads the expression on Matthew’s face because he backs away, “Shit. I said something stupid again. I’m so so-”

He’s cut off because Matthew starts to snicker, “That must have been the most grown up answer I’ve ever heard from you.”

Monny blinks before he scowls at Matthew, “Fuck off. I am a grown up,” he sniffs.

“Uh huh,” Matthew agrees patronizingly. 

Monny scowls deeper, “I hate you.”

“You love me,” Matthew chirps back, unfazed. He dodges with a laugh as a pillow goes sailing where his head used to be.

* * *

Monny’s asleep again when Matthew takes out his phone to return some of his texts. He should sleep too. They have to get up a ridiculously early hour for their flight to Arizona. Except he knows that he can’t ignore his sister any longer if he doesn’t want to be faced with an angry Taryn. It’s almost midnight and Taryn should be asleep by now if Matthew’s quick timezone calculation is correct. He’s not worried about waking her up either, he knows that Taryn typically turns off her notifications at night.

He opens his phones and taps away at his phone until he pulls up Taryn’s text thread.

_ Hey? Brades said the losers in Edmonton broke your phone _

_ So I don’t know whether or not you’re receiving my texts _

_ I want to know if you can read this before I rant  _

The timestamps show that the next blurbs of texts were sent an hour later.

_ So I badgered Brades until he gave me McDavid's number and he says I should be able to text you now _

_ He's nice I like him. Doesn't mean I won't give him and Draisaitl the third degree _

_ No. Shut up. You cannot tell me you wouldn't be doing the same thing if I was in your shoes _

_ They better treat you right or it’s not just Brady they will have to worry about _

_ Do what makes you happy, whether it means giving them a chance or not, and stop thinking as if dad's breathing down your neck. You're an adult.  _

_ He has no say in your life anymore _

_ Love you, big brother and go kick some golden ass _

Matthew smiles, large and wide at his phone. He’s reminded how much he loves his siblings. He rereads the last part of Taryn’s texts in regards to his father and while he’s not as much of an emotional wreck as he was in the first few years of coming out as a sub, there are times like the past week where his composure slips. If he had still been a teenager, he would have blamed the slip entirely on the crap that went down last week in Edmonton, but he’s matured a bit over the years. He is self aware enough to know that if it wasn’t Leon or that goddamned phone call with his dad, it would have been something else that would have triggered it. 

He types out ‘Thx T. I love you too’

He’s about to go close his phone but he hesitates before he pulls up the group text with Leon and Connor.

The conversation is actually pretty lengthy. It starts with Connor asking if Matthew likes his new phone before Leon interjects that they should have bought an android. It devolves from there, bickering about different phone models. It puts a smile on Matthew’s face. It almost feels like he’s an outsider looking in, the two of them would intermittently ask for Matthew’s opinion.

The bickering ceases because the two apparently had to go look at some tape with their coaches. The last text is from Connor, congratulating Matthew on their win and to gush about one of the saves that Marky had made.

Matthew can feel his eyes start to droop so he doesn’t think much when he responds, ‘Team Android ftw. Leon knws wut’s up. Thx for the phone though. I’ll be sure not to trash it. I’ll let Marky know that you think he’s the shit, Davo. nights’

Matthew sets the phone on silent with the exception of his alarm tomorrow morning before tossing it at the table and flipping over.

He doesn’t see the responses until he’s half-asleep on the airplane the next day as they head to Glendale to face the Coyotes.

_ Leon: Good Night, Matthew _

_ Davo: Traitor! Apple is so much better :(  _

_ Davo: You’re welcome though. I hope you like it despite it not being an android _

_ Leon: Give it up, I’m always right _

_ Davo: Fuck you, go to sleep _

_ Davo: Good night Matty _

* * *

The days pass quickly. They get an easy win against Arizona before they quickly fly down to San Jose where they get another day off outside of watching some tapes with the coaches. They win the game against the Sharks the next day to the booing of the crowds before they make their way to face the LA Kings.

The game against the Kings gives Matthew a bad feeling. He feels a little sick as he puts down his hamburger. He’s been eating out with Johnny every chance they got since Vegas and it’s one of the highlights of Matthew’s days when he isn’t thinking about hockey or chatting with his siblings, Leon and Connor, or Matts and Marns.

Johnny gives Matthew a look of concern, “What’s up with you?”

Matthew shrugs, “I just have a bad feeling about this game.”

“Is Doughty still being a dick?” Johnny narrows his eyes.

Matthew shoots him a sharp look, “Don’t. He’s not worth the penalties.”

Johnny only frowns, “I thought you guys worked things out?”

“No,” Matthew scowls, “That was Kassian and ‘worked things out’ is a stretch.”

“So… what’s the difference? You’re always way more tense before a game with the Kings than the Oilers,” Johnny pushes.

“The fights with Kassian are fun and the fans love the rivalry. We don’t hate each other - at least not anymore even if one of us take it too far sometimes,” Matthew explains, “Doughty is a fucking douchebag.”

“Well, no arguments there,” Johnny agrees. “You sure you can’t eat anymore? Pass it to me.”

* * *

The bad feeling in Matthew’s gut grows as the game ticks closer. He’s screwing around on his phone, trying to get his mind off of things when he gets a text from Perry.

It’s a surprise. They don’t talk a lot even though Perry would often take him and Marns out for drinks whenever they’re all in Toronto together. They usually only talk about which NHL’er they’ve pissed off while Marns would roll his eyes.

_ Hey kid. I thought I’d let you know. I’m friends with Kopitar from my time as a Duck. Apparently news about you and your two Oilers reached them. Kopitar’s worried that Doughty might pull something stupid again. _

Matthew pales as he curses. He’s forgotten that the NHL grapevine can be just as much of a curse as it is fun. 

‘I thought everybody hated you when you were a Duck’ Matthew is quick to shoot back.

_ On ice, yeah. Usually try to make up for that shit off of it. The stars wouldn’t have added me if Jamie still hated my guts. _

Matthew blinks. It was a fair point. He wonders if the bad feeling in his gut was about Doughty knowing about Leon and Connor, and that he would probably say some shit about it on the ice tonight.

‘Thanks for the heads up’ Matthew texts back distractedly before he turns his phone off. He wanders away to find some of his teammates, talking about hockey and strategy would be a better distraction than mulling on Doughty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh what? A cliffy? ;)
> 
> Look who's back!!! Weekly updates resumes now :) Please review, they make my week
> 
> Happy Holidays and Happy X-mas!! <3


	6. Chapter 6

They’re in the locker room of the Staples Center waiting for the coaches to give them the clear to head out to the ice for warm up when Marky inserts himself into the small huddle where Matthew is rehashing their agreed game plan with his linemates.

“Sorry boys. I’m going to be borrowing Matthew for a bit,” Marky butts in as he wraps an arm around Matthew, already steering them away.

“Yeah, sure,” Backy agrees and Andrew waves.

“What’s up?” Matthew asks when Marky takes them to an abandoned corner of the locker room.

“You okay? You’re tense,” Marky asks.

Matthew blinks, “Did Gio tell you to talk to me?” 

“Gio?” Marky blinks in surprise, “No. Are you always like this when you play the Kings?”

“Not all the time. Just have a bad feeling about this one,” Matthew shrugs, “Perry said that Kopitar thinks that Doughty is going to pull something stupid today.”

Marky scowls, “I forgot about that asshole. Will you be okay?”

Matthew shrugs, “I’ll be okay. Not the first time I’ve dealt with him.”

“Uh huh,” Marky doesn’t look convinced, “Let’s switch roomies after the game. You look like you need to drop.”

Matthew frowns, “Are you sure?”

Marky shoots Matthew a look, “Of course I’m sure. But it’s your choice.”

Matthew considers Marky’s offer. It would be nice to let himself drop after this, he hates playing against the Kings. He knows that not all of them are assholes, Kopitar is a good guy and Matthew respects Quick. It’s mind-boggling how one guy could suck the enjoyment out of everything. 

He wonders if this is how some teams view him. He hopes not. He likes to be a shit and make players with short tempers mad, but he always made sure to never make it personal. 

Yeah, Matthew thinks, a drop would be a good idea.

“Okay,” Matthew agrees.

Marky smiles, “I’ll talk to Lindholm. You were rooming with Noah, right?”

Matthew nods.

“Okay. I’ll talk to Noah too. Don’t worry about anything, I’ll deal with it.”

* * *

“FUCK!” Matthew shouts as he slams his stick to the board as he gets up from the ice. Doughty had cross-checked him headfirst into the boards. A dangerous play that should have been called, but of course, the whistle is suspiciously missing.

_ Fucking refs, _ Matthew thinks angrily as he rushes to catch up with the play. He doesn’t even glance at Doughty. 

He knows in the back of his mind as he collects the puck from Gio and skates down the ice again that Doughty is fuming. When Matthew had first started playing in the NHL, Doughty had made a jab at him about his dad,  _ “Your dad must be ashamed about having a pussy for a son.” _

It was a chirp. A regular chirp. There wasn’t anything special about it. Anybody in the NHL could have said it. Except most players would have left it at that.

But Doughty saw Matthew flinch and the douchebag had latched onto it. He would go on about how much a failure and a fuck-up Matthew is and how disappointed his dad must be of him or whatever whenever they stood next to each other during a face-off. He’d go on about it at every opportunity. This was back when Matthew still went back to St. Louis every summer. Before Brady, Taryn, and even his mom, in her own way, made him understand that his dad wouldn’t be happy with him no matter how hard he tried to make him happy. When the emotional pain had still been fresh.

Once the humiliation had worn off - there were only so many daddy issues chirps one could come up with before it all gets old - anger had boiled in Matthew’s veins and he had fought back. Things had come to a head when he had gotten himself suspended for elbowing Doughty for two games.

Gio had sat him down the day after, after Matthew had calmed down some. They had a talk that had Matthew agreeing to clean up some of his play, and to try to ignore Doughty whenever they play the Kings.

The look on Doughty’s face when Matthew had ignored him was a thing of beauty, according to Johnny who had been giggling like a maniac on the bench. When it became apparent that Matthew was ignoring his baits, Doughty had become increasingly agitated and distracted. It had also made the older player make some rookie mistakes that only furthered enraged him. 

Secretly, Matthew had gotten a kick out of it. He had successfully pissed the douchecanoe off and  _ he hadn’t done a thing. _

And the status quo stayed like that. If Matthew had a guess, Kopitar must have also given Doughty a good talking to because he ignored Matthew for the most part in the next games, if not for a few jabs here and there.

Until today, it seemed. It was obvious from how buzzed Doughty seemed that he had something planned. Matthew was just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

So Matthew was prepared when it happened. It was near the end of the final period and there was a surprising lack of penalties and the Kings were leading by one. It was a TV timeout and Matthew was skating towards the bench and had tensed when he noticed Doughty skating his way.

“McDavid and Draisaitl, eh?” Doughty called out from behind him and Matthew stopped. They have garnered the attention of the entire Flames bench and Matthew can see his teammates tense up, ready to fight at a moment’s notice.

“You’re that much of a whore, huh? That you’d need two to fuck you? Fucking slut.” Doughty’s voice takes on a gross quality. He doesn’t keep talking, and a couple of years ago, it would have been enough for Matthew to fly into a rage and it seems to be what Doughty is betting on.

Matthew clenches his fist. He’s angry. He wants nothing more than to slam his fist into Doughty’s ugly face. But he doesn’t.

Doughty isn’t talking loud enough for his voice to carry over to the Flames bench without being drowned out by the crowd noises. Matthew’s glad for that. A line brawl wouldn’t help anyone and it’s an unnecessary risk for injury. Besides, ignoring Doughty always seemed to work better than giving him the fight he’s been looking for.

"It makes sense actually,” Doughty says thoughtfully.

Matthew grinds his molars against the mouthguard he’s been chewing. Damn his own curiosity. Warily, he turns around.

Doughty’s leaning on his stick and is sporting a thoughtful look on his face. Doughty? Using his brain? That’s never a good thing.

“What makes sense?” Matthew snarls. 

Doughty smiles indulgently and Matthew can feel his blood pressure hit the roof. He can see Kopitar quietly skate up behind Doughty, prepared to intervene.

“Of course Draisaitl would be interested in you. You’re a  _ sub,” _ Doughty leans forward, as if he’s disclosing something top secret. “McDavid might be the new Gretzsky, but everybody knows he’s  _ broken.  _ Who could love a Switch? They’re- _ ” _

Matthew lunges at Doughty only to be caught by the back of his sweater by Gio and Kopitar takes that time to tow Doughty away. 

Doughty calling Matthew a whore? Matthew had been prepared for that. He could see that coming a mile away. But Matthew hadn’t thought that Doughty would have brought up Connor. He’s never brought up other people in his bid to piss Matthew off. 

“You should have let me punch him at least once,” Matthew tells Gio, a scowl on his face. 

Gio sighs, “I wanted to punch him too. Come on.”

Matthew sighs as he follows Gio to the bench. He ignores his worried teammates as he drops his head onto the boards with a thump.

He also should have known that this wasn’t the end of it, because soon after the TV timeout is finished, and seconds after leaving the faceoff circle, Doughty slams into Andrew who didn’t get his head up in time to see him coming and Andrew crumples into a heap onto the ground.

Matthew watches numbly, as trainers start to pour from the benches. It doesn’t look good, there’s blood coming from one of Andrew’s legs. It’s probably a cut. Was that an accident? Or did Doughty bring his skate up on purpose? Or was the cut from something else?

Matthew can see Kopitar try to make his way to him in his peripheral vision. To apologize, probably. He doesn’t get to though, because Gio intercepts him and the two Captains start talking rapidly. Kopitar looks vaguely uncomfortable. 

He’s relieved however, because Andrew manages to get up, but Matthew notices that his teammate is careful to keep his injured foot off the ice and the trainers tow him back to the bench and down the tunnel. Stitches and concussion protocol probably. It’s Johnny who jumps over the boards to take Andrew’s spot.

Soon, Matthew finds himself standing next to Doughty on the face off and Doughty gives him a smug smile that makes Matthew’s blood boil.

He waits until the ref drops the puck before dropping his gloves and grabbing Doughty’s sweater, “You want a fight? You got one.” Matthew spits on Doughty’s face, the smug look twisting into rage.

They trade hard blows before Matthew can feel Doughty lose his footing so he takes the chance to grab the douchebag by the sweater and toss him onto the ice, Matthew slamming into him not long after before the refs swarm them, pulling them apart and depositing them each into their respective boxes. Five minute penalty on them both, for roughing.

It’s not long after that Johnny gets tossed into the box with him for holding, but things balance out when Kempe gets penalized for tripping at the end of Johnny’s penalty.

By the end of the final period, nobody scores and the Kings win. Matthew is careful as he follows his teammates off the ice to not look at the pile of black sweaters celebrating on the other end of the rink. There is no doubt a smug look on Doughty’s face and Matthew feels like he will explode if he even gets a glimpse of it.

* * *

It’s a blur from the moment that Matthew finishes showering and changing to the bus ride to the hotel. Somebody grabs him the moment he steps off the bus - Marky - and squirrels him away.

The next Matthew knows is that he’s standing in the middle of a hotel room, presumably Marky’s. It’s strange. He’s still too angry and tense from the game but he can feel himself dropping. It’s not a good combination.

Marky seems distracted as he digs through one of his bags, muttering about something under his breath. Matthew watches as Marky grabs a couple of items and gently places them on the bedside table. 

Seemingly satisfied, Marky finally drops his bag and digs his phone out of his pocket before he turns back to Matthew.

“We are going to do something a little different today, Sweetheart. Is that okay?” Marky gently asks.

Matthew nods.

“Use your words,” Marky orders, his eyes are set on Matthew, observing. 

“Yes sir,” Matthew obeys.

Marky’s lips quirk in amusement. “Kneel and wait for me,” he orders.

Matthew goes down and Marky frowns before he goes to grab one of the many pillows from one of the beds. He eases it under Matthew’s knees.

“Good boy,” Marky praises and Matthew offers a strained smile.

“I’ll be back soon. I just need to talk to Petey,” Marky says.

“Petey?” Matthew starts for a bit, until Marky reaches out to cradle his head.

“Shh. Sweetheart, you’re fine. Petey wouldn’t be mad. He would be proud that you’re letting somebody you trust take care of you. I just need to let him know before I do. He thinks I need advice,” Marky rolls his eyes fondly before he takes on a more serious expression. “Will you let me take care of you?”

“Yes sir,” Matthew agrees easily, leaning into the contact.

“Thank you, Sweetheart,” Marky smiles. He takes a long look at Matthew’s face before he stands up to walk out of the room.

It is silent after the hotel door clicks close behind Marky until Matthew can hear muffled sounds of Marky’s voice. He isn’t fully dropped even though he had been close when Marky had him kneel. Now that the Dom’s thrall is absent from the room, he starts to fidget and shuffle around the pillow. The more he moves around, the more distressed he starts to feel. Marky hadn’t said that he couldn’t move, but usually Doms don’t like it when a Sub can’t keep form. His agitation from earlier, prior to dropping, means it’s a harder task to settle him. 

He’s so distracted that he doesn’t even notice when Marky opens the door until he hears a soft curse that makes Matthew freeze.

He fucked up. Matthew thinks in abject horror. This is the part that Marky’s going to kick him out. 

Except that doesn’t happen, Marky rushes over and helps Matthew up. He’s soothing Matthew, telling him what a good job he’s doing even though Matthew doesn’t feel like he had been. So, he says as much.

“Are you going to punish me?” Matthew asks he finds himself being stripped to his boxers and gently pushed stomach-first onto the bed.

Even if the answer had been no, it’s definitely not that anymore. He’d spoken without permission, most Doms didn’t like to be interrupted - they like to be the ones running the show, Matthew finds.

So it puzzles Matthew when Marky drops a grounding hand onto the back of his neck. Matthew arches into the contact. 

“No Sweetheart. Would you tell me why you thought I would?”

“I wasn’t even able to kneel for you properly,” Matthew pouted. “And I interrupted you.”

Marky crooks a smile, “You’re cute. But no. In fact I’m going to reward you.”

“For?” Matthew asks.

“Kicking Doughty’s ass,” Marky answers with a serious face as he grabs a small bottle that he had set aside earlier off the table.

Matthew can’t help himself, he giggles.

Marky grins, “You’ve been tense the whole day, I’m going to give you a massage.”

Matthew doesn't get a chance to say anything when he suddenly feels Marky’s weight above his back and warm hands covered in oil starting to work on his back.

He moans when Marky presses on a knot and he melts into the mattress. He can also feel himself dropping again. It only takes Marky working on the next knot to send Matthew fully into drop.

It feels good. All the stresses from the outside world fall away and the only thing Matthew can focus on are Marky’s hands on his back turning him into putty.

Marky doesn’t just stop at his back either, he gives Matthew the full body treatment. By the end of it, Matthew is floaty and pliant. 

Correction. Matthew is  _ warm _ , floaty, and pliant because Marky starts to wrap Matthew up with the blankets until Matthew is cocooned. It’s not too tight either that Matthew would feel claustrophobic. When Marky’s satisfied with the Matthew-burrito, he carefully lies down on top of Matthew, carefully keeping an eye on Matthew’s face for any discomfort. 

The weight is pleasant and Marky starts to hum an unfamiliar tune until Matthew’s eyes grow heavy and he falls asleep.

* * *

“Andrew!” Matthew calls when he spots his teammate coming into the breakfast room. 

He rockets out of his seat before anyone else can get up to pull Andrew into a hug, mindful of the leg that Andrew was clearly trying to be careful to keep his weight off of.

“Hey Matty,” Andrew hugs him back. “Thanks for kicking that douchebag’s ass for me.”

“Anything for you,” Matthew says easily, pulling away. “How’s your head and your leg?”

“No concussion,” Andrew reports. “Leg’s a little banged up. I’ll probably miss the game against the Ducks, but I should be fine by the time you’re back from partying it up in Tampa.”

“Awesome,” Matthew grins. “I don’t think we can live without you for more than a game.”

Andrew snorts, “I’m sure y’all will survive.”

“Nah,” Gio says, coming up to steer Andrew to a table. “You’re an important piece of the team Andrew.”

“Uh huh,” Andrew rolls his eyes. “I’m sure. What does the breakfast bar have to offer here?”

“Not much,” Lindholm pipes up, “Some cereal, oatmeal, and fruit. Not even a waffle iron.”

Andrew scrunches his nose up in distaste, “Gross.”

Matthew meanders back to his table that he’s been sharing with Noah, Monny, and Johnny with a smile on his face as he listens to the bickering of cereal brands behind him.

* * *

They spend their day working out and talking to the coaches. The whole team is piled in Andrew’s room to watch a movie after dinner when Johnny suddenly jolts up from where he’d been idly scrolling on his phone on Noah’s bed.

Matthew watches as Johnny scrambles across both Rittich’s and Tanev’s legs - ignoring the protests of the two men - to reach the remote and quickly flips the movie channel to the sports network where the Oilers were apparently facing Kings. Leon’s and Connor’s game today completely slipped Matthew’s mind. He feels a little bad for not texting them earlier. But those thoughts evaporate in Matthew’s mind when he realizes what he is seeing on the screen. 

It’s a close up shot of Doughty who’s lying motionless on the ice.

_ “Did you see that?”  _ one of the announcers says, alarm in his voice. 

_ “No I didn’t. We were talking about that last play by McDavid. Next thing I know Doughty’s down on the ice. Wait, here’s the replay. Our cameras caught it.” _

Matthew watches in horror as the cameras catch Doughty next to Leon, waiting for the faceoff to start. Kopitar and Connor were waiting next to the ref in the center of the faceoff circle. It’s clear that Doughty is talking and whatever he was talking about was making Leon angry. The more Doughty talked, the more angry Leon seemed to get. Then there seemed to be a snap when suddenly Leon’s gloves and stick were on the ice and Leon’s fist was in Doughty’s face and Doughty falls over, unconscious.

Everybody in the hotel room is silent. Matthew is half horrified and half impressed. It’s also a little bit funny because Connor looks like he’s about to have an aneurysm. 

_ “Holy smokes. Draisaitl punched him out. I wonder what Doughty said to make the Oiler so angry.”  _

_ “Keep in mind folks, this isn’t the type of play Draisaitl is known for.” _

_ “Regardless. As far as the NHL is concerned, that is an unprovoked hit with the intent to injure. You don’t just accidentally punch someone out like that.” _

_ “There will be a suspension for sure. The refs are discussing it now. The game clock hasn’t started so there is the question of whether or not there will be a penalty. But Draisaitl will be hit with a game misconduct and will be taken out of this game.” _

_ “The other question is how many games will they suspend Draisaitl? Draisaitl is a star player-” _

Matthew stops paying attention as he focuses on Connor talking to Leon. Connor’s face is red as he talks furiously with Leon. 

“Shit. I wonder what Doughty said to him,” Lucic frowns at the TV. “I’ve seen Drat lose his cool on the ice before, but not like this.”

“How long do you guys think he’s going to be suspended for?” Matthew finds himself asking as he watches Leon storm down the tunnel.

“Probably two or three games. And a fine,” Gio mutters, frowning at the screen. “I thought Kopitar talked to Doughty about this.”

“Five games max,” Backy adds. “Hasn’t the League been cracking down on hits lately?”

“And I saw some blood trickling down Doughty’s nose,” Noah adds. “Penalties are always worse if you draw blood.”

Most of Matthew’s teammates don’t notice when Matthew sneaks out of Andrew’s room. If Matthew looked behind him as he slipped out of the door, he would notice Marky’s, Johnny’s, and Lucic’s eyes looking at him in understanding. 

* * *

Matthew finds himself sitting cross legged on the hotel bed he had taken for himself. He’s sharing with Rittich today but he doesn’t expect Rittich to be back from Andrew’s room for another hour or two so he takes out his phone to Facetime Leon. He should be alone in the Visitor’s Locker Room of Staples Arena by now, maybe watching the rest of the Oilers' game on an iPad.

The dial tone rings for a while before Leon picks up.

“Matthew,” Leon greets, a frustrated frown on his face. But Matthew can see Leon’s eyes soften when he looks at Matthew. It makes butterflies flutter in his stomach and Matthew mentally shakes himself out of it, he’s being ridiculous.

“Are you okay?” Matthew asks, a worried frown on his face, his lips red from chewing on them in anxiety.

Leon quirks a little sheepish smile on his face, “I guess you saw the hit?”

“The hit?” Matthew snorts. “You like one hit KO’d him. What the fuck? Since when were you able to throw a punch like that? Have you been holding out on me? That was fucking impressive. I wish I could have done it.”

There is a look of surprise on Leon’s face before he busts out laughing, but Matthew can also read the look of pride on his face.

“I didn’t know I could throw a hit like that either,” Leon admits. “I was so angry. I just saw red and suddenly Doughty’s out cold at my feet.”

“What did Doughty even say to you? He was clearly going after you. He doesn’t usually target a specific player unless it’s me,” Matthew asks, his curiosity burning.

Leon snorts, “Because you’re so special huh?”

“You know it,” Matthew winks before scowling. “Doughty’s fucking obssessed with trying to get under my skin. Asshole aims for the jugular.”

“Fuck,” Leon says, running his fingers through his gross helmet hair. He apparently hadn’t taken a shower, or changed out of his gear yet for that matter. “I knew you guys had a rivalry, but I always thought it was the same shit you had with Kassian. Doughty is a douchebag and he went after you as a rookie?”

“I was an annoying rookie though, to be fair,” Matthew frowns.

“That doesn’t mean shit. Marchand is fucking annoying and he goes around licking people. You don’t see anyone trying to go after him like that unless it’s to spear him,” Leon grumbles.

Matthew snorts out a laugh, “I’m pretty sure everybody’s afraid to get their ass kicked by Chara.”

Leon lets out a snort of laughter, “Fair.”

“You never did tell me what Doughty said to you,” Matthew reminds Leon.

Leon frowned, “He called you a whore and a whole bunch of ugly slurs that I didn’t fully understand. I just knew it was really fucking bad and I really wanted him to shut the fuck up.”

Matthew frowned, “Huh.”

“What is it?” Leon pins Matthew with a look. “You guys played the Kings yesterday, didn’t you? What did he say to you?”

“I..” Matthew scrubs his hands over his face and tugs at his curls a bit. “He called me a whore.”

Leon looks agitated and he’s about to open his mouth to say something but Matthew doesn’t let him.

“I was expecting that. It’s Doughty. Of course he was going to say it. But I was surprised that that was the only thing he called me. I’m surprised he went after you,” Matthew frowned.

“Does he know that Connor and I asked you out? Is that why he’s doing this?” Leon asks, a little dismayed.

Matthew shrugged, “Guess he found out. I got a text from Perry. He warned me about it. Don’t worry too much. If it wasn’t this, Doughty would have found something else to use against me.”

Matthew hesitates before he says, a little quieter, “Doughty said that Connor’s broken, that that was why you’re interested in me. It wasn’t him calling me a whore that made me angry. It was the way he talked about Connor.”

Leon sucks in a breath, “I really wish I didn’t knock him out in one punch. I want to hit him more.”

Suddenly there is the sound of footsteps. Matthew is guessing that the period is over and it’s intermission.

“Sorry. Give me a minute,” Leon says distracted and Matthew’s screen is a blur of colours as Leon gets up to greet his team.

Guessing that Leon might take a while to sort everyone out, Matthew gets up to go retrieve a water bottle.

He takes a couple of mouthfuls of water before returning to the bed and placing the water bottle on the nightstand.

“Matty?” Connor calls out as Matthew picks up his phone again.

Matthew waves, “Hi Connor. How’s the game going?”

“Would be a lot better if my line-y didn’t decide to get himself kicked out of the game,” Connor shoots Leon a glare. 

Leon rolls his eyes.

“You’re not letting that go anytime soon, aren’t you?” Matthew laughs. He’s glad that Connor isn’t his Captain as much as he likes him. He can only imagine the arguments they would have. 

“It was unprovoked-”

“He called Matthew a whore. What was I supposed to do?” Leon says, exasperated.

Connor opens his mouth and closes it. He frowns. “You could punch him out after the game.”

There’s a pout on Connor’s face and Matthew can’t help himself. He laughs.

Leon has an amused expression on his face, “The only time we see Doughty outside of a game, he’s surrounded by teammates. I’m not suicidal.”

Connor sighs but there is a softer look on his face as he nudges Leon, “As your lover. I support the act of punching out Doughty. As your Captain, I’m obligated to tell you to keep your temper in check. We can’t have you be suspended each time you get angry.”

“Doughty isn’t worth getting suspended over either,” Matthew adds. 

Leon smiles a little, “Fine. I’ll try.”

"Oh yeah," Matthew pipes up. He almost forgot. "Marky took me through a drop yesterday night."

There is a flash of jealousy that passes through Leon's face but it disappears as quickly as it came. Matthew isn't sure if he's just imagining it.

"You drop for Markstrom?" Connor asks, surprise on his face.

"Platonic dropping," Matthew clarifies. "Marky introduced me to the idea when I was struggling a while back."

"Oh, I think I know what you mean," Leon says, a thoughtful look on his face. "We do this in Germany too but we don't have a name for it."

"I never heard of it," Connor frowns in confusion.

Leon nudges Connor. "It's what I did for you before we started dating."

"Oh," realization flickers across Connor's face. "I didn't realize it was a common thing to do."

"More common in Europe than it is in the Americas," Leon informs Connor.

Connor nods. "Did Markstrom treat you well?"

"Yeah," Matthew nods. "He gave me a massage and wrapped me in a blanket. Lied on top of me too. It was nice."

Leon hums, "I know that method. It's to emulate what a weighted blanket would feel like, but like, better. It was one of the things I learnt in school."

"School taught you guys that?" Matthew asks in astonishment.

Leon shrugs, "Health class. Dom and Subs were separated, but Switches usually had to take both classes."

“Yo Cap,” a voice calls out.

“Yeah?” Connor shouts back.

“Coach wants to talk to you before we go back out onto the ice!” the voice replies.

“Alright! I’m coming!” Connor gives a thumbs up.

“Kick their asses, Davo,” Matthew says.

“Of course. Anything for you,” Connor agrees with a wink before he disappears.

“Do you think that they will take you out of the All-Stars over this?” Matthew asks, chewing on his bottom lip.

“Probably not. It’s too short-noticed and I’m a fan favourite. Besides, All-Stars is a media gig for the fans, not an actual serious game,” Leon reasons. “When is your flight to Tampa?”

“Tomorrow night. Right after my game with the Ducks,” Matthew says. “What about you?”

“Connor and I leave tomorrow morning,” Leon answers. “We will see you in Tampa?”

Matthew nods, “Of course.”

“Sweet. I guess I’ll let you go then. I still have to clean up.” 

“You do look kinda gross,” Matthew agrees unrepentantly. “Good night Leon.”

“Good night Matthew,” Leon replies with a soft chuckle before he hangs up.

Matthew flops back on the bed with a smile on his face. He feels giddy as he thinks about his upcoming trip to Tampa.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy early new year!!!
> 
> Please review!!!! Love y'all.


	7. Chapter 7

“Matty!” a familiar voice screeches into Matthew’s ear as he’s pulled into a tight hug. Matthew winces as he clutches his ears.

“Petey. My ears. What the fuck. Marky, where did you pick up this loser?” Matthew yells over Petey’s shoulders where he spots Marky laughing his head off next to Quinn Hughes and Braden Holtby who both seem to be highly amused.

Marky had wandered away from their gate earlier while Johnny and Matthew were arguing about which other card game that they could play that _wasn’t_ Goldfish. Petey must have texted Marky that the Canucks All-Stars had arrived at the airport. Matthew hadn’t even known that they were taking the same flight.

“Hey! Don’t be mean!” Petey pouts as he pulls away. “I missed you!”

“I saw you last week,” Matthew deadpans.

“One week is a long time!” Petey protests before he catches sight of the cards in Johnny’s hands. "What are you guys playing?"

By this point, Marky, Holtby, and Quinn have already made their way to them. Marky and Holtby are sitting a couple of seats down deep into a conversation - probably something goalie related - and Quinn has already dumped his bag and carry-on luggage to the side before sitting on the ground in front of the chair that Johnny and Matthew had been using as a pseudo-table for the cards.

“I don’t know,” Johnny grumbles, staring at the cards as if they personally offended him. “Anything but Goldfish.”

Quinn laughs as Petey moves to sit next to him, “How about we play a round of President?”

Matthew brightens up as he sits on the chair on the other side of the pseudo-table. “I played that game all the time with Brady and Taryn when we were bored. I’m down.”

“What is it?” Johnny asks, a look of confusion on his face.

“It’s a little difficult to explain, but you basically put down cards that are bigger than the one in the middle. The point is to get rid of all your cards. I’ll teach you as we play,” Quinn says excitedly.

It doesn’t take long for Johnny to figure it out. They spend the rest of the time waiting for their delayed flight playing and squabbling.

* * *

‘Heading to Tampa’ Matthew sends the text to the group chat he shared with Brady and Taryn. It’s been an hour into their flight and Matthew finds himself bored and unable to sleep.

_Brady: I’m already here. Is Hughes with you?_

_T: You soooooo have a thing for Hughes._

_‘_ Do I have to deal with the two of you awkwardly flirting with each other again?’ Matthew texts back, a grin wide on his face.

_Brady: adjfalksdv IT’S NOT FLIRTING. STooppppppp_

_T: You guys are cute. I ship it_

_‘_ You’re making this too easy’ Matthew types out. 

_Brady: :(_

_T: Are you going to tell your two boy-toys your answer tonight?_

_Brady: You’re totally going to say yes_

‘Never call them boy-toys again’ Matthew snorts. ‘I’ll Facetime you after. Probably going to find Connor and Leon after the skills competition stuff’

_T: I thought you’d find them right after you land_

‘It would be 6am when I land. I’m sure they would be asleep’

_T: What about brunch?_

‘Petey wants us to join him for brunch Brady included’

_Brady: Me??_

A shit-eatting grin grows on Matthew’s face.

‘Brady and Quinn sitting on a tree.’

Matthew’s in the middle of typing out the next sentence when Brady starts replying in quick succession.

_Brady: NO_

_Brady: STOP_

_Brady: I HATE YOU_

_Brady: I WILL TELL LEON AND CONNOR ABOUT YOUR UNDYING LOVE FOR THEM_

Matthew snickers. He knows Brady wouldn’t but he deletes his text - also, does Brady even realize that Matthew is basically going to be telling Leon and Connor a toned down version of that soon?

‘You do realize I’m on the same plane as Quinn, right?’

Matthew’s phone is silent and he knows that Brady is ignoring him. Probably went to sleep. It’s late in Tampa right now and Matthew’s sure that Brady wouldn’t remember the conversation come morning.

There is no such thing as maturity when you’re talking to your siblings, Matthew finds.

_T: Why don’t you get Connor and Leon to join you guys for brunch?_

Matthew blinks. He hadn’t even thought about that. 

He looks over Johnny’s bent head at Marky who’s sitting in the window seat, reading a novel in Swedish. Quinn and Petey were sitting several rows down, passed out on each other. At least that’s how Matthew had found them earlier when he had made his trip to the lavatory. Holtby had been watching a movie on the in-air entertainment system that their plane offers. 

“Marky,” Matthew murmurs softly. It’s dark as the aircraft had dimmed the cabin lights to let people sleep. It’s quiet so he doesn’t want to disturb their neighbours.

“Hmm?” Marky looks up, away from where the overhead light is illuminating his book.

“Could Leon and Connor come join us for brunch later?” Matthew whispers.

“Of course,” Marky smiles. “Thought, you might have to convince Leon and Connor. Petey says he might have freaked them out a little.”

Matthew stifles a laugh, “I’m sure they can get over it.”

Marky chuckles quietly before he returns to his book.

‘Thanks T’ Matthew sends off on his phone. ‘You’re the best’

_T: Don’t I know it. Go to sleep. Good night Matty_

‘<3 Good night’ Matthew sends back before he opens up the group chat between himself, Leon, and Connor.

‘Would you guys wanna grab brunch with me and the boys?’

Matthew checks his schedule for tomorrow as he waits for a response. When his phone remains quiet after a good minute or two - they’re probably asleep like most normal people - Matthew shuts his phone off and shuffles in his seat until he finds a good position to fall asleep.

* * *

They arrive in Tampa at around 7am and Matthew yawns. He’s still half asleep.

He nudges Quinn who’s walking next to him and isn’t preoccupied by his phone like Johnny currently is. Marky is walking in front of them giving Petey a piggy back ride, leaving Holtby, who had grumbled in early-morning crankiness, carrying most of their bags.

“When are we going for brunch?” Matthew asks.

“We were thinking 11? We get to the hotel, nap for a couple hours and we will meet in the lobby. We’ll head directly to Amalie Arena for all the interviews and shit after,” Quinn answers as they reach the customs area.

“Sweet,” Matthew answers as they catch up with the other half of their group. He hears faint snores from above Marky’s head and he looks up incredulously at Petey’s slumped figure above Marky.

“Did Petey really just fall asleep like that?”

* * *

They’re early as they reached the lobby of the busy Hilton hotel that they were staying at. Matthew catches a glimpse of Giroux and Eichel in two different areas of the large lobby. Eichel catches Matthew’s eyes and waves but doesn’t come over as he’s making a beeline for the elevators.

“Hey Matty?” Johnny calls from behind him. 

Matthew turns to find Johnny shuffling his feet. He refuses to meet Matthew’s gaze.

“What’s wrong?” Matthew frowns, concerned.

“I… Uh… I won’t be joining you guys for brunch.”

“Are you okay? Are you sick?” Matthew steps forward to place the back of his hand to Johnny’s forehead. His temperature seems fine.

Johnny bats Matthew’s hand away, his face pink, “No no. Nothing like that. I just. Have plans…?”

Johnny seems to catch sight of someone over Matthew’s shoulders, “My ride’s here. I’ll see you at the arena, okay?”

Matthew watches Johnny rush off in confusion and suspicion. _What the fuck was that?_

Johnny reaches a guy in a white shirt with his sleeves rolled up and blue khaki pants, with a baseball cap tossed over his head. The guy is tall and while he’s not bulky, but Matthew can tell that the mystery man is packing some muscle under that shirt. The stranger, that Matthew thinks he recognizes - he’s not sure - pulls Johnny into a hug before they both walk out of the hotel.

He doesn’t get a chance to think more about it because his name gets called behind him. It’s Connor’s voice and Matthew turns around to see Leon and Connor walking up to him. They had texted him earlier that they would meet them down in the lobby.

“Leon! Connor!” Matthew grins as he jogs to the two of them. He accepts the hugs from both of them.

“Good job,” an arm is suddenly swung around Leon who starts before his expression turns a little sheepish. It's Marky - Matthew hadn't even seen him walk up. “We all saw you knock the crap out of Doughty. Hell of a show.”

Matthew can see Petey, Quinn, and his brother walk up to them shortly after. Petey winks at Matthew before he pulls a vaguely pale Connor into a conversation. 

Brady doesn’t even look up at Matthew, he’s so engrossed in his conversation with Quinn. They look like they’re off in a world of their own. Matthew would be offended if it wasn’t adorable. And Brady denies having thoughts of getting hitched with Quinn. Matthew doesn’t believe it for a second. Hell, there is a whole bet between Jack, Luke, Taryn, and himself about how long it will take before the two of them finally get together.

“Hey, ignoring your big brother is rude, you know?” Matthew pulls Brady into a noogie. Brady squawks and one of his flailing limbs lands in Matthew’s stomach who grunts at the impact.

“I was not!” Brady scoffs as he wrestles his way out of Matthew’s hold. 

“Are you guys done?” Quinn asks with an amused expression and Brady’s face immediately reddens in embarrassment. 

Matthew laughs, “Yeah. Where are we going guys?”

* * *

“Did Nugent-Hopkins come here with you guys?” Matthew quietly asks Connor, while Leon is chatting away with their Uber driver in the front, a middle-aged hispanic man. 

Connor shoots Matthew a perplexed look. “How did you know? Nuge said he had some family he wanted to visit."

Matthew frowns, “It’s nothing. I just thought I saw him pick up Johnny earlier.”

“Johnny?” Connor frowns. “Is that why he’s not here?”

“Yeah,” Matthew shrugs.

“Is it bothering you that Johnny might be with Nuge?” Connor asks hesitantly. 

Matthew turns to see Connor look at him with concern in his eyes. Matthew shakes his head.

“It doesn’t. It’s just Johnny’s been super secretive about it. I just wish he’d talk to me is all,” Matthew responds with a troubled look.

Connor looks like he’s about to say something but seems to think better about it. Instead, he offers Matthew a sad smile and reaches out to clasp Matthew’s hand into his own, giving it a squeeze.

* * *

It’s not long after that Matthew finds himself being hustled into the backroom of some fancy brunch place that he didn’t catch the name of by a harassed looking waiter.

“Busier than usual?” Matthew asks the guy answers with an empathetic nod.

“Some of my coworkers think it might be the All-Star even. Especially since we’re located close to your hotel,” the waiter says as he deposits them into the separate room that looked like it was put together last minute.

It seems that the other Uber was faster than theirs because Marky, Petey, Brady, and Quinn were already seated, menu in hand.

Matthew ends up sitting in between Leon and Connor. Connor hadn’t let go of his hand and Leon’s hand finds its way onto Matthew’s waist and Matthew relaxes into the touch.

“Are you going to participate in the goalie competition?” Matthew asks Marky after they order. Matthew had ordered a large breakfast platter. He’s starving.

“Yeah,” Marky nods with a light scowl on his face, “Fleury roped all the goalies this year into a bet.”

“Of course he did,” Connor snorts.

The conversation flows smoothly after that, gossiping between the three teams - four when Brady comes out of his bubble he has with Quinn.

Matthew’s biting into one of his hash browns when Leon asks Marky and Petey, “Are you guys thinking of getting collared?”

It’s a loaded question that even draws Brady and Quinn out of their own conversation and Marky and Petey blinks at Leon in surprise. A mischievous smirk slowly appears on Petey’s face as he turns to Marky.

“I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me, Marky-poo?” Petey asks dramatically.

Petey squawks as he’s suddenly being upended out of his chair. He’s lying flat on the ground when he yells back up to Leon, “Your answer is no, Drai! Marky isn’t getting a collar anywhere near me!”

Leon snorts as he takes a sip out of pint of beer - Connor had glared daggers at Leon when he had ordered it. Matthew had been sure that an argument would have broken out had Marky not also had ordered a pint. Although it seemed that the beer was mostly being drunk by Petey who kept swiping the drink away from Marky.

Marky rolls his eyes, “Ignore him. Petey’s being an asshole. But we’re technically already collared.”

“I swear to God - those two are the most dramatic couple I’ve ever met,” Quinn remarks shaking his head. He continues when he notices he has the attention of everybody in the room, “Marky showed up at our place with all the paperwork one random weekend. Didn’t even call beforehand. Lots of Elias yelling at Marky before Elias allowed Marky to talk. Marky had a whole speech and everything that ended with him popping the question. They sobbed when they were signing the forms and then Marky had to go. I had to deal with Elias bouncing off the walls.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” Petey and Marky protested simultaneously as Petey climbed back onto his chair.

Quinn pins them a look that basically screamed otherwise. 

“I’m guessing you guys aren’t going to get an actual collar?” Connor asks, gesturing at Petey’s collarless neck. 

It’s an old tradition to present a collar to subs. However, nowadays, more private couples have taken to using rings to symbolize their union. It was also a good compromise for Switches who didn’t feel comfortable wearing a collar but also wanted to have something special. Matthew believes that the new term is called marriage.

Furthermore, the NHL didn’t require their hockey players to disclose their status to the public, they just needed subs to be collared by their 24th birthday so they can put it on their record and forget about it. Matthew knew some of the players who kept their status a secret from both colleagues and the public.

Petey and Marky both pull out a ring that’s hanging on a string around their necks from under their shirts. They’re both simple silver bands that probably had an intricate design on the front that Matthew couldn’t make out from here.

“We decided not to use a collar. We’re both going to be in the NHL for a long time, so it would be pointless to give Petey a collar that he couldn’t wear around a lot and would have to be careful about wearing it. Given our age gap, we didn’t want people to focus on that over our performance on the ice,” Marky explained.

“That makes sense,” Connor agreed. He seems lost in thought as the conversation turns to the game tomorrow. 

Matthew turns to wink at Leon, remembering how well they worked together in the last All-Stars. 

Leon snorts a laugh, “We’re so winning the game tomorrow.”

“Hell yeah,” Matthew laughs.

* * *

Johnny meets up with Matthew for all the pre-events interviews that lasted what felt like forever before they’re being shooed into the arena. Matts and Marns meet them on the ice after they change into their gear.

“Matty!” Marns shouts as he skates up to them. Marns throws his arms around Matthew, pulling him into a tight hug.

Matts skate up at a more sedate pace as Matthew is trying to regain his balance on the ice. He fails and he falls into a heap onto the ice, Marns falling on top of him.

“Yo Johnny, sup’” Matthew hears Matts greet Johnny from where he’s lying on the ice.

“Marns, you’re heavyyy,” Matthew complains as he wrestles his way out from under Marns.

“Oh hush,” Marns rolls his eyes. “I haven’t seen you in a while!”

“I see you’re no longer giving Matts the silent treatment,” Matthew observes as they get up from the ice.

“We worked things out!” Marns gushed.

“What did you do?” Matthew tries to ask but Marns shakes his head.

“We’ll tell you later,” Marns says just as MacKinnon skates up to them.

“Hey guys, what’s up?”

* * *

Matthew zones out for most of the events, although he knows that Marky is pouting somewhere from having come second to Lehner. He had a decent score on the shot accuracy event and he was currently watching Leon go through the ‘Puck Passing’ competition. He winced when he saw the puck go flying away from Leon’s stick. Thankfully the puck didn’t travel too far, but it would be enough to knock Leon’s score to the bottom half.

It was Johnny’s event next, for puck control which Matthew perks up for because Johnny was speeding through the obstacles, a look of intense focus on his face. He’s on his feet when the announcer announces that Johnny had broken a record.

“You’ve been practicing, haven’t you?” Matthew asks when Johnny returns to kneel on the ice at his side.

“A little,” Johnny admits.

Another two events go by, the only interesting thing happening being that Ovechkin had somehow broken the machine that was supposed to read the player’s puck speed going into the net.

Matthew’s eyes wander elsewhere and he notices Quinn and Barzal huddled together deep into conversation. His brother is standing off to the side, clearly listening in with a wide eyed look on his face.

It’s obvious why the two have been talking when the next event comes up and the batch of skaters waiting to compete in the fastest skater competition stands around to wait for the officiators to prepare the course.

Eichel was giving Connor a death glare that Connor was clearly trying to ignore. Quinn sticks himself to Connor’s side and Barzal slings his arm around Eichel and bodily tows him towards MacKinnon, excitedly going on about something. MacKinnon seems to catch the memo because he joins in. Matthew can see Connor relax when Eichel’s attention gets pulled elsewhere. He wonders what had happened between Connor and Eichel. He had known they had broken up, but what happened that made Eichel seem to hate Connor so much?

It doesn’t take much longer for the competition to start. He can hear the announcers hyping up Connor and Barzal who are set to go last.

Matthew watches as everybody skates the outlined track. It’s Connor’s turn with Eichel having the current high score and there is a look of focus on Connor’s face that Matthew doesn’t recall seeing from the last All-Stars.

Connor beats Eichel’s score by a couple of seconds and Matthew cheers. Connor seems to hear him because he turns in Matthew’s direction and beams, ignoring the scowl on Eichel’s face as he skates past him.

Barzal, the little speed demon, easily beats Connor’s time, but Connor doesn’t seem to mind. He even gives Barzy a fist bump as he skates by.

After the event, Leon meets up with Connor and they start to make their way to Matthew, but they’re intercepted by Crosby who drags them to the side to talk about something, but Matthew can read the disappointment on Connor’s face and he catches Leon twitching his eyebrow in annoyance.

He turns to look at Johnny who also seems puzzled at the encounter.

“Are they bothering you?” Matts asks as he scooches closer to Matthew.

“Who? Leon and Connor?” Matthew asks in confusion.

Matts’ own face twists into one of confusion as well, “Since when did you start calling Draisaitl, Leon?”

Matthew suddenly remembers how Matts had texted him that he wasn’t going to take it easy on Draisaitl the next time he saw him. He had completely forgotten to tell him otherwise and he has a sinking feeling in his stomach.

“Is there about to be an intervention over this? What the fuck.” Matthew hisses.

“Maybe.” Matts admits, looking a little chagrined. “Look don’t worry about it okay? They’ll be fine. What’s the deal with you and them anyways? I thought you hated them.”

Matthew huffs, “They asked me to date them. I told them I was going to think about it. I was planning on telling them my answer tonight. Hopefully.”

Matthew takes a quick look at Connor and Leon who are still tied up with Crosby.

“Wait, so Marns was right?” Matts asks rhetorically. “Fuck. I should have known better. I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you tell me, man?”

“Why are you sorry? Also, I was planning to this weekend!” Matthew groans. Why can’t he catch a break?

Matts is saved from having to answer when a kid comes careening towards them yelling “Uncle Mitchie!!”

Matthew can’t help but let out a soft smile when the kid barrels into Marns’ arms. Marns had to quickly drop his stick to catch the kid.

Letang comes chasing after his kid, an apologetic look on his face, “Sorry guys. Kid has been looking forward to pass a puck around with Mitchie here since last year. Apparently hanging around with Dad is incredibly boring.”

“Uncle Mitchie is cool!” comes the kid’s voice from where Marns is giggling his head off.

“I’m cool too!” Letang protests.

“No you’re not!” the kid retorts and an offended look crosses Letang’s face, but his eyes betray his amusement.

The kid sticks his tongue out at his dad and Matthew snorts in laughter.

Raising his hands up in surrender, Letang turns around to return to where he was sitting next to Malkin. 

“Fine then!” Letang says dramatically. “Since he likes you more than me, Uncle Mitchie can babysit the little monster for the rest of the competition!”

“Do you hear that? You get to hang out with me for a bit!” Marns exclaims excitedly. Matthew can practically see Marns’ desire to prove himself to be the coolest Uncle ever. 

Matts lets out a long-suffering sigh, “He didn’t shut up about that kid for _days_ after the last All-Stars.”

“Maybe he’s trying to tell you something Matts,” Matthew nudges his friend gently, a teasing smile at his lips.

Matts frowns, “We’re both guys-”

“Oh my God,” Matthew rolls his eyes. Why did Marns settle for this idiot? “Adopt a kid, you moron.”

Matts lets out a soft “ _Oh”._

“Yeah. Oh.” Matthew snickers.

“Oh, shut up,” Matts rolls his eyes. “Probably not now though. I want us to go through at least one or two entire off-seasons together before we make any big decisions like that.”

* * *

It’s finally the end of the series of short competitions and the announcers are wrapping the entire thing. Matthew can see some of the people in the stands start to leave the arena. Marns disappeared a couple of minutes ago, looking for Letang to return his kid.

Matthew’s standing up, stretching his legs when Matts lets out a soft curse from next to him. Matthew turns to see Kaner making a beeline for him. He looks like he’s on a warpath.

“Kaner?” Matthew glares dagger at Matts.

“I’m sorry,” Matts winces, a panicked look on his face.

Matthew doesn’t get to ask Matts about whatever crazy thing he's about to be tied up in when Kaner’s hand is suddenly at the back of his sweater, towing him towards the tunnel.

* * *

“Is this really necessary?” Matthew looks at the broom closet that Kaner had dragged him to, unimpressed. Kaner had rushed him through changing in the locker room and he’s fairly certain he’s wearing his t-shirt inside out.

“Sorry,” Kaner shrugs. “I’d take you out to coffee instead, except it’s going to take a while for everybody to empty out and I’d like to have this conversation as soon as possible.”

“Is this about Leon and Connor?” Matthew asks annoyed. He pops a piece of gum that he finally remembered to buy into his mouth. 

Kaner blinkes, “Yeah-”

“Stop,” Matthew glares. “One. I didn’t ask for help. I can handle myself. Two. Leon and Connor aren't taking advantage of me. Come on. Connor’s one of the nicest people in the League. He’s the last person to do that. And he definitely wouldn’t let Leon take advantage of me either. Three. If you must know, Leon, Connor, and I are dating.”

Whoops. He probably should have told Leon and Connor that before he started saying it to other people. Oh well. 

Kaner’s face turns ashen as Matthew finishes his short tirade. “Wait. Did Jonathan not talk to you?”

“Toews?” Matthew asks.

Kaner nods.

“No. He didn’t.” Matthew retorts back as he crosses his arms.

“Excuse me,” Kaner mutters under his breath. “I have to go kick my partner’s ass now.”

Matthew barely registers what Kaner had said before he’s suddenly being left alone in the closet.

_What in the world…_

Matthew sighs and mentally counts to three before he goes to open the door to the closet.

He nearly jumps out of his skin when he does. Seguin and Scheifele are behind the door, Segs’ fist up in the air as if prepared to knock.

“Christ. Please tell me you two aren’t going to hook up in the closet,” Matthew says as he tries to get over his shock.

Seguin snorts, “We were actually looking for you. I saw Kaner storm out of there just now.”

“We thought you’d like us to show you where Toews hid away your boys,” Scheifele grins.

“I would appreciate that,” Matthew murmurs, slumping against the doorframe, suddenly exhausted.

“Alright then,” Seguin says cheerfully. “No time to waste! Let’s go.”

* * *

“You two are covering up for each other,” Matthew says apropos to nothing as they walk through the halls of Amalie Arena.

“What do you mean?” Scheifele asks, looking at Matthew quizzically.

“Benn collared you,” Matthew points at the collar on Scheifele’s neck before pointing at the collar on Seguin’s neck. “And Wheeler collared Segs. But the real couple is Benn and Segs, and Wheeler and Scheifs.”

The two older subs grinned at each other, “Figured it out, didn’t you?”

Matthew snorts, “I’m pretty sure Matts figured it out too. We’re just not saying anything to Marns. Not knowing is driving Marns crazy. The latest conspiracy theory is that y’all are just having orgies on the regular.”

Seguin barks out a raucous laughter and Scheifele grins.

“What did he think about Perry smooching Segs for ten minutes straight at the party last year?” Scheifele asks.

Matthew snickers, “Perry wouldn’t tell him anything. He’s still fuming.”

“Jamie says it’s your time to shine by the way,” Seguin winks at Scheifele.

“Hmm… I can probably convince Laine or MacKinnon. Maybe even Landeskog,” Scheifele muses out loud.

“Or Crosby-”

Seguin is cut off because they can suddenly hear shouting in one of the empty breakrooms and suddenly a door busts open and Kaner is dragging Toews out of the room. 

Matthew doesn’t think twice and he jogs to catch the door before it closes and he runs in to see Leon rubbing at his jaw,

“What the fuck? Did Toews hit you?” Matthew asks bewildered. The entire situation was bewildering. 

“Yeah,” Leon scowled. “How many friends do you have?”

“Apparently I don’t even know,” Matthew says at a loss for words. He steps closer to take a closer look at Leon’s jaw. It looks like it will only bruise a little. Matthew’s guess is that Leon moved out of the way before the hit could land.

“Don’t worry about Toews,” Seguin says from the doorway. “Kaner and Crosby - when he finds out anyways - will sort him out. Toews can be a bull-headed Dom sometimes. There was a rumour about Drai and Davo taking advantage of Matty here and Toews flipped out.”

“You know how protective Toews is about the rookie players,” Scheifele adds.

“I’m not a rookie anymore,” Matthew protests from where he’s still fretting over Leon. Connor comes over from where he had been scowling with his arms crossed behind Matts and Marns who both looked chagrined. 

“Still a rookie once,” Scheifele shrugs. “You know some of the older players feel responsible for making the NHL be a comfortable place for the younger players and protect them as much as possible. Even from other young players.”

“Yeah, I know,” Matthew sighs. 

Seguin grins, “Just think about the lecture Crosby is going to give Toews. I wish I could be there to see it. Anyways, let’s leave these boys alone.”

Seguin looks pointedly at Matts and Marns who are quick to join the older players at the door. Matts aims one last apologetic look at Connor and Matthew.

“What the fuck is going on between you two?” Marns asks loudly and laughter ensues as the door closes behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <3 Please Review!! I promise the three of them will get to talk in the next chappie ;) Also screwing around with Marns is one of NHL's favourite past times 
> 
> Also if anybody needed a reminder, https://travisdermott.tumblr.com/post/190450998338/mitch-and-kris-letangs-son-alexander


	8. Author's note

Hey guys,

I tested positive for COVID-19 last week. I've been quarantining and for the most part I appear to be fine besides dealing with some mild symptoms. However I haven't been working on this fic while I was resting last week and I have been particularly exhausted the past two days. Not to mention university starting back up today. I apologize for the delay in the update. I will hopefully be back by next week with an update for y'all. I'll be deleting this note and posting the actual chapter when that time happens.

Thank you for following this little project of mine,

magic1034

PS: NHL is starting in a couple of days, can't wait to see the games in this new format :D

**Author's Note:**

> My goal is to try to update this every week, hopefully. Please Read&Review!


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